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PREFATORY NOTE. 



Gen, Harris needs no word of introduction from me; 
and yet it may not he amiss to detain the reader just a 
moment with some allusion to the General's eminent 
adaptability to do the work which he has so nobly per- 
formed in this unpretentious volume. The author 
passes his 84th -mile stone" to-day. He has been a 
painstaking student and careful observer of the teach- 
ings and practices of Ron|^anism. He knows his sub- 
ject fully along the lines of historical Romanism. And 
being a member of the ''Military Commission" that 
tried and condemned the conspirators he had unusual 
opportunities for accurate knowledge concerning 
Rome's responsibility for the ''Crime of the Ages"— the 
assassination of Abraham Lincoln. And he has here 
presented a chain of evidence which ought to result 
in the expulsion of the Jesuits from American soil. 

The book deserves to be read and pondered by every 
American freeman. 

I cannot better close this note than in tlie words of 
Lincoln himself. In 1864 he said: 

"If the American people could learn wliat I know 

) . 



^«flarai'T!WB? JWH5. 



Jst^tfS 






JS 



i-i.> j.^ "^^m 






4 



ROME'S 



RESPONSIBILITY ^ 

FOR THE 



Assassination 



OF 



Abraliam Lincoln. 

BY 

THOMAS M. HJ^RRIS: 

Lokte Brigadier <!Tenerai U. S. V., and Major <Ten<eral 
bv Brevet, 



PITTSBrRG. PA. 

WILLlAiiS PCBLI^HING iY)>fpANy 

Publisher?. 



^ z: 



AH rights reserved. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Address to the Reader: 

This little book is a book of facts. Every statement 
in it can be sustained by ample testimony. 

It reveals a state of things that calls for the earnest 
and careful consideration of every true American citi- 
zen. It shows that we have a most wily and danger- 
ous foe in our midst; that, in fact, we have taken a 
viper into our bosom, and have, by our genial and 
hospitalde treatment of it, given it sufficient vital vigor 
to enable it to begin to use its sting. 

That foe is the Roman Catholic Hierarchv. 

Note — It is the governing power of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church; the Hierarchy, and not the church in the 
whole body of the membership that we arraign, and 
characterize as a foe. There are many of the individ- 
ual members of the Roman Catholic Church amongst 
its kiity in the United States that really love, and are 
loyal to our civil institutions. 

These, however, are found almost exclusively 
amongst those who have l)een educated in our Public 
Schools; and so have caught the s})irit of our institu- 
tions and have reached such an appreciation of their 
(iod-given rights of manhood as enables them to disre- 
gard the assumed authority of their priests over them 



\ 



lAity v>f tho KvMuau V'^thvxXW i'hwrv^hv j^if^ 5^1>U^ u^ Ih^ 
. ini^ *ml K>\^ oiii^^v^ i>t\n\f \vo|^ul4u\ 

I: i:iit ' ' ' v^n wf this cls^sj* uuu Uu^ 

Ami s\^ it vvuus u^ i\i>ci ;uu; Uwt a wnijkHnaivolY 
vx^rv ^Uv^n nuMotv oi' its Uity v^i\u Ih> vIojhmwIihI vi|h>ik 
ii\ Auv t^t tMUt^«>«viu\\\ t\vr lv\vHhy tK> our 4»\>vvn\i\voot> 
Bxxt it is oi\Iy th<* J^^\>^^u^\^ ^nnvt^r of tUt^ Konuuv i'lUh* 
oUc Ohur\*h thnt w*^ Arnu^n. It alout> is r^v^^jHMisiUK^ 
for the iittitiulo of its laitv towarvl our iustituiious, tiuii 
for tho vvntrv^l of thoir ^nmihiotv rtu^l this HiiM-iUx^hy is 
a ilotiiily und in\plHi^^\*U^ tvv to our ij\n'oruu\ont. Tho 
rt'^ailer of this Uith* Kn^k wiU stv that wo havo au\|»W 
rwjiims t\^r umkiu^r this chHi>st\ 

This Wiu^^ true, tho i*r\^t innly of AuunnoHU f\>vuu^u 
shouW W utaiio to kuvnv tlio t«vt> au^l tv> j't^^liBo its iu^ 
jH^rtamv: that thoy luuy ho ^m^^v^utHl to \uoot, it\toUi- 
i^^nt^y, t)\o orisis t)iat is U|hm\ us. Uut how shall tlu\Y 
U* put iu ^HVist^ssiou i>f a full kitowKnlgt^ of tho situa- 
tion that iHMxfrv>uts us? Tho Hionuvhy has attaiuinl to 
suoh a |H>sitiou of |H>wor iu t)>is **huul of tlu> t\tv" thM 
it is ahW to iH^utrvU. to a jirrt^it oxtont, all of tho natiinil 
v'hanuols vU" inforniatiou. 

Whor^nor tho Kouiau rat^>i>lio ihiuxh is sux>uj; it 
uses foroe to supjuvss iKhhIoiu of sjuHH*h, au<l this ovi- 



.iNTRr)r>i:(rri(>x. 7 

(leiitly at the instigation of the prientljood. 

Patriotic lecturern must make up tlieir njiiidH to he 
courageouH enougli U> encounter' tlie violence of* the 
moh. ThiH exi>erience in, in thin free country, an(i in 
this enligliteried age. a thing of almost daily occur- 
rence. It is the Jloman Catholic (.'hurch alone that so 
educat^js its menjhershipas to have them give this exlii- 
bition of their deti^rmi nation to suppress freedom oi 
speech, whenever and wherever they have the power. 

In suppressing freedom of the press the Hierarchy 
has been still more successful. By tlie skillful use of 
her almost boundless wealth, K(nne has secured control 
of the public press; and can put before the American 
people just what she chooses, and can withhold from 
them whatever she ch(K>ses to sujipress. Tlius we find 
ourselves in such a situation today, that a book like 
this, cannot hope t^) i>e }>rought to public notice 
through this channel. Outside of the Patriotic press, 
there is scarcely a newspaper in the land that would 
dare to notice this little book. excej>t to misrepresent, 
and condemn it. There is scarcely a bookseller c>r 
news dealer in the United Stat<3s that would dare to 
expose it for sale, for fear of that exclusively Roman 
C'atholic weapon, the ''boycott." How. then, shall it 
ftnd its way to publicity? The information whicli it 
f-ontains ought to })e in the possession of every voter 
in the land; and of every American citizen; but how is 
it to gain the publicity that it ought to have? There 
is but one channel open to it; and that is found in the 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

variouH Patriotic- organizations that exist throughout 
the country. 

Every nieinher of every one of these various orgam'- 
zations should make it a matter of conscientious duty 
to interest himself in its circulation. 

Every Patriotic lecturer should be prepared to fur- 
nish it to any with whom he may come in contac^t who 
may desire, or can be prevailed upon to read it. Its 
})rice })uts it within the reach of all; and it should 1)6 
circulated by the millions throughout tlie length and 
1)readth of the land. The suggestions which I have 
indulged in at its close are intended to be tentativ(^ 
rather than arbitrary. 

They, of course, ex[)ress ni}^ own conclusions in re- 
gard to what will be found necessary to break, for good 
and all, the power of the Hierarchy, yet, I do not de- 
sire to l)e dictatorial. I simply invite for them a 
careful, un))iased, consideration. It will be for the 
Americjin people in the exercise of • their collective 
wisdom to determine u})on the ])est course of action. 
Something must be done; and the}' will have to deter- 
mine as to the best method of doing that something. 

May God, in His infinite mercy, give us wisdom and 
courage to do the right and necessary thing; and to 
face and overcome the foe. As it is only the claim of 
the Plierarchy of sovereign, civil dominion for its head 
that we oppose and resist; so, it is only in our civil ac- 
tion, in the discharge of our duties of citizenship, thnt 
we can successfully resist this monstrous claim. 

It is Rome in jiolitics that we are called U))on to 



X 



INTRODUCTION.. ^ 

^ght. With the rehgion of the Roman Hkrarcliy we 
have nothing to do in this field of contention. We ac- 
cord to every man the right to choose his rehgion for 
himself; and he answ^rabk only U) his God, 



DEDICATfON. 



To the nieiiiory of our Martyred President, Abraharr* 
Lincoln; to all who love the Flag of our country; to 
all lovers of Lil)ei*ty and haters of Despotism; to all 
who are loyal to the Constitution and (government 
of the United States of America; and who value the 
rights and the protection wliich these secure to us; — 
liberty of conscience, freedom of thought and investi- 
gation, freedom of speech and the })ress. within the 
limitations of the law; the complete separation of 
Church and Btate, as distinct and separate organiza- 
tions; each ])eing independent of the other in its own 
proper sj)here of action, yet not so as to separate religion 
from the J^tate; civil government l>eing an ordinance of 
God, and to l)e administered under His authority, in 
accordance with the great moral requirements of the 
Decalogue; to the fiiends of poi)ular education at the 
expense of the State; and to all who hope to subi^erve 
the highest interests of mankind, and to attain to th(^ 
true ideal of human existence on earth througli the 



rJKBICATIOX, 11 

^rjaintenance of these Protestant ideas and institutions, 
this little hook is respectfully and fraternallj dedicated 
hf its autlior. 

T. M. HARRIS, 
H4i-rrisvill>e, W. V^ 



Rome's Responsibility for the Assassin 
ation of Abraham Lincoln. 



The Anti-Catholic agitation that is now so rife in 
the United States, marks a cri&i:^ in our history » Hun- 
dreds of intelligent, jmtriotic, conscientious men are 
tramestly, laboriously, and courageoiisly devoting 
themselves to this agitation. 

Newspapei's have sprung uj) all over the coimtry to 
give warning of danger, and to arouse the spirit of 
American patriotism 

i^ocieties are being organizetl all over the hand to 
protect and defend American institutions against the 
aggressions and encroachments of a Foreign political 
jyowerthathasgotten a lodgement in this land of Liberty, 
and that is evidently bent on the destruction of our 
free institutions, and substituting for them the Papal 
despotism; a despotism that lords it over the minds, 
the consciences, and the actions of its subjects; and 
thus renders them incapable of loyalty to any other 
government. 

What does it all mean? . It is evident tliat a crisis is 



Rome's responsibility for the 13 

even now upon us; a crisis in which the world-old 
contest between freedom and despotism is to be defi- 
nitely and finally settled. This is an old fight. 
The cause of liberty seemed to have achieved the vic- 
tory when our forefathers achieved their independence 
through a successful revolution, and founded our gov- 
ernment on the principles for the first time formally 
announced in our Declaration of Independence; secur- 
ing to our people the natural rights of man; freedom 
of the mind and conscience, freedom of worship, and 
freedom of speech and of action, and protection in the 
exercise of these rights. 

Here, in the wilds of a newly discovered world, was 
established a well considered, well understood, and 
truly democratic government; a government ''of the 
people, by the people, and for the people." The tree 
of liberty was here planted in i\ fertile soil, and a con- 
genial clime, and has become a well-rooted, vigorous 
and fruitful tree, of goodly stature. Its branches over- 
shadow the land, and its fruit is pleasant to the taste. 
The question now is, shall it be plucked up by the 
roots, and burned in the fire? 

To this question more than twelve millions of Amer- 
ican freemen, for themselves, their wives, and their 
children, and in behalf of humanity, return, in the 
most emph'atic manner the answer: "Never!" and stand 



14 komp:'s responsibility for the 

ready, if need be, to S(3al that answer with their blood. 
The fruit of the tree of liberty is so sweet to the taste, 
so refreshing and so invigorating that we are ready to 
nay with Patrick Henry, "Give me liberty, or give me 

death." 

It is because of a conviction that our government is 
threatened by a wdly and formidable foe; that the 
cause of human liberty is in danger, that we are in the 
midst of this anti-Catholic agitation. Is all this imag- 
inary, or is there a real danger hanging over us like a 
cloud? Is the Roman Catholic Church the friend, or 
the foe ot liberty? Is it a branch of the Church of 
Christ, in connnon with the various Protestant denom- 
inations, laboring in common with them, for the es- 
tablishment of Christ's Kingdom on earth? If we an- 
swer this questian in the light of history, in the light 
of present experience, in the light of the monstrous 
elaims of the Pope, and in the light of the spirit by 
which it is everywhere and always animated, and in 
the light of its present efforts in our country, and in 
all lands, we must say that it does not, in any degree, 
bear the marks of a church of Christ. It is, in fact, 
only a compact, well organized, and powerful political 
machine, wielded in the interest of the greatest despot- 
ism that has ever cursed the earth. "If any man have 
not the spirit of Christ he is none of His;" 'and if this 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LILCOI.N. 15 

organization has not the spirit of Christ, it is not a 
church of Christ. That it is not animated l)y the 
Christ spirit is clearly manifest. It has never mani- 
fested the spirit of Christ in all of its past history, and 
so is not a christian church at all; and as it has always 
been graspinoj after temporal power, and civil domin- 
ion, and is now, as it always has been, laboring for 
civil supremacy all over the world, we are surely war- 
ranted in calling it a huge and dangerous political ma- 
chine, that has stolen the livery of heaven to enable it 
the more effectually to serve the Devil; and the more 
easily to deceive and enslave mankind. But are our 
institutions in danger from this foe? Have we any 
cause for alarm? Is it necessary that we should sound 
the trumpet throughout the length and breadth of our 
land, and muster the hosts of freedom for the conflict? 
Yes, my fellow countr^^men; there is cause for alarm, 
there is real danger in the immediate situation. ''For- 
warned, forearmed;" and we have not l)egun a moment 
too soon, to organize for the protection of American in- 
stitutions. Every citizen, and every sojourner in this 
country, who is loyal to the Roman Catholic Church, 
is an enemy to our government, of necessity, for he 
yields his highest allegiance to the Pope of Rome,a for- 
eign potentate, who has time and again anathematized 
every fundamental princii)al of our government. He 



10 Rome's responsibility for the 

has denounced liberty of conscience, freedom of speech 
and of press, freedom of worship and of teaching, as 
pestilent and damnable herseies; destructive to order, 
and to the peace and welfare of society. The highest 
dignitaries of this so called church have jleclared their 
purpose to make tliis a Roman Catholic country; but 
to do this it must be brought to the acce})tance of the 
Pope of Rome as Christ's vicegerant, or representative 
on earth, invested with all temporal and spiritual 
authority; above all kings, emperors, and civil rulers; 
the supreme judge and law-giver, whose decisions are 
infallible and final. This would make him lord of the 
conscience and master of the actions of all men 
throughout his dominion, which is nothing less than 
the earth. These are his monstrous claims; and his 
priests, of all grades, including the wily Jesuits, are 
laboring night and day to make them good in this land 
of ours. Has not the beast of prophecy indeed follow- 
ed the woman into the wilderness to destroy her child, 
whose name is Liberty? It is but a few years since 
Arch-bishop Ireland, who poses as a Republican, and 
as a friend of our government; and who so busied him- 
self in our late Presidential election, and who, since the 
election, has had the ear of the President, and busies 
himself in trying to control his most important ap- 
pointments in the interests of his church, declared that 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 

this country was to be brought under the Poi)e within 
the next twenty years. But let things go on for twenty 
years more as they liave been going for the last fifty 
years, and this will not appear to have been an un- 
Avarranted prophec3\ It is evident that Rome is in 
politics, and i.s ceaselessly on tlie alert, in the United 
States, to so control the political action of our i)eople 
that whatever party may succeed to power she may be 
in the saddle, to augment her wealth and power. And 
the people are asleep, and must Ije awakened and made 
to realize the danger, or our ship of state will be scut- 
tled and sunk. Is there no danger when the Roman 
Hierarchy quarters its wily agents in the capital of our ^ 
nation to exert their influence in shaping our iaws,and 
in controlling Presidential appointments to the highest 
and most important offices? Is there not danger when 
all our politiciajis who aspire to national fame feel that 
in order to succeed they must truckle to Rome, and be 
submissive? Is there not danger when the capital of ^ 
our nation has ])een captured ])y the wily Jesuit, and / 
AV'ashington is literally ''in the lap of Rome?" Go in- 
to any and all of the departments of our government 
and find seven elevenths of the government employees 
in several of them, adject slaves of the Pope, and tell 
me is there no danger? Go into all of our cities and 
larger towns and find our municipal governments in 



\ 



IS rom^e's RT<:sp()NsiBiLrrY' f()R Tirfir 

the band-jaf the faithful servants of thit^ foreign despot^ 
the Po'pe', mid who are corruptly admiaistering their 
affairs to eiwich the church at th® expense of the peo- 
ple, and tell me, is there no- danger? Contemplate- 
^his alien ami dangerous po-wer in complete control of 
three-fourths of our newspapers ami periodicals, and 
tell me, is there m> danger*? Look at tbis alie-n organi- 
zatio-n levying tribute ciontinaially on Protestant busi- 
nest* men all over the land, and growing rich on tril)- 
ii-te thus levietl, and securetl through fear of the boy cot.. 
and then tell me, if you can, that there is do danger. 
Ix)ok at the Protestant pulpit, for the most part muz- 
zled and dumb through fear of the boy cot against their 
members trho are engaged in buisines-s, aRd on whom 
they largely de|)end for their salaries, and then tell me, 
if you ean, that there is no danger. 

It is clear that Rome is rapidly getting control of all 
the sources of power in the United States, both in civil 

and military affairs; and that she is doing so in pur- 
suance of a well considered and wisely laid plan, and 
for the very ])urpose of sul) verting our government. 
Let us go l)ack a little and review the menus suggested 
and considered for bringing the United States under 
the ("ontrol of the Pai)acy. Father Chiniquy, in his 
book, "Fifty Years in the Cliurch of Rome," gives an 
extended and minute account of the plans that were 



ASSASSIN AT in X OF ABRAHAM TlNC^dl.X. 19 

'di.scus.sed by bi^^liops and priests for the attainment of 
political eomtrol of the United States, and for the over- 
throw of our government. About fifty years ago a 
council of ])ishops and priests was assembled^ Buffalo^ 
N. Y., for the purpose of determining this question. 

The Bishop of Chicago thought to accomplish the 
■desired end by colonizing emigrants from Canada, 
France, and Belgium in such numbers in the valley of 
the Mississippi, as would give to the Roman Catholic 
Church political control of the States of Illinois, Indiana, 
Missouri and Iowa. It was thought that with the fast 
hold the church had gained in the Southern States, as 
also in Michigan and Wisconsin, that it would thus be 
able to hold a cordon of States extending from Florida 
along the Gulf of Mexico, and up the Mississippi, to 
our Northern limits, and thus, in time, give it complete 
political control of the United States. Father Chiniqu}^ 
had been engaged in this scheme by the- Bishop of 
Chicago and had entered upon the work as an emigra- 
tion agent, with enthusiasm, and was meeting with en- 
couraging success. This plan of operations was being 
advocated e^irnestly by De Prey Magee, the editor, at 
that time, of the Freeman's Journal. Promising as it 
appeared to its advocates, it was repudiated by a large 
majority of the members of the Buffalo Conference. 
They argued that by this plan their forces would be 



20 Romeo's respon.steimty fok the 

scattered, and the power of the ehurch dissipated, ami 
that the true poliey of the ehureli for getting political 
control (^f the country, was to concentrate its forces in 
the cities' and larger towns, and fill these uj), as rapidly 
as possible, with their foreign emigrants. It was ar- 
gued that in this way the Roman Catholics vote could 
be so wielded, under the dire(_^tion of the bishops and 
priests, as to be made a balance of {lOwer vote between 
the two political parties, and so, necessary to the su*^- 
cess of either; and being so, it could make its own 
terms with the political party leaders, and thus get the 
control of the municipal offices in a very short time; 
and that it would, in a few years, become a majority 
vote, when it would have complete control in munici- 
pal governments; and ultimately in State politics. This 
plan had been carefully thought out and matured by 
the Jesuits, and its wisdom was made so apparent by 
their arguments in this conference that the plan of the 
Bishop of Chicago and his adherents received a very 
emphatic condemnation by the Buffalo Conference, and 
the wise plan of the Jesuits was adopted, and at once 
entered upon, as the true policy of the churcli for get- 
ting political control of our government. 

The wisdom of this plan is seen in its results. A 
half a century has elapsed since its adoption. The 
work of bringing Roman Catholic emigrants into our 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LrX( OLX. 21 

<^oiintry and colonizing them in our cities, has been 
seduh^usly pursued from that day to this; and the re- 
sults predict-ed by th« most sanguin-e of its advocates 
have been realized. Quietly, stealthily, st-eadfastly, 
!ias this plan been pursued, under the direction of the 
unust astute political managers that the world has ever 
?<een, until the realization of its purpose seems to be al- 
anost within their grasp. And what was. its avowed 
})urpose? Political control of our country AVas its im- 
mediate purpose; but this control was Ui Ix? used for 
the overthrow of our government. The Roman Catlio- 
lie priesthood, in former years, was wont to protest, 
loudly, that it took no part in politics, l)ut confined 
itself to the spiritual interests of mankind; but in all 
this history of its doings it is made manifest that the 
purpose of these gratuitous protestations was to lull us 
to sleep, to keep hidden from our eyes its evil intent 
upon our civil and religious liberties. Having secur- 
ed the foothold that it has, its attitude is now chang- 
ed, and it seems desirous to be known as a powerful 
factor in our political affairs; and to exhibit itself as 
holding a club over political aspirants; hence its boasts 
openly made of late, that it has made and unmade 
Presidents. It still works in secret, and in the dark, 
but emboldened by its success, it is beginning, upon 
occasions, to show it-hand in the open light ofdav. 



22 ROMf/w RESPONSIBZLlTr FOR THE 

But the eyes of the people are beginning to be opened 
to the (lanj^er; as witness this present anti-Catholie ag- 
itation. There are still greater signs of approaching 
danger than any that have been above noticed. What 
is the rational signifigance of the fact, that the young 
men of this so called church, are being organized into 
military companies, and regularly drilled in the man- 
ual of arms and in tactics? What does it mean that a 
systematic process of procuring arms and amunition is 
being put into operation? What does it mean that 
the basements of churches, cathedrals, and school 
])uildings are being converted into arsenals, in which 
to store away arms and munitions of war? Does it not 
indicate a purpose, if need be, in the struggle for su- 
premacy, to resort to revolution and bloodshed? Is it 
a mere happen so, that the rank and file in the army of 
the United States is made up, very largely, of the sul)- 
jects of this foreign potentate, the Pope of Rome, men, 
who from their childhood have been taught implicit 
obedience to his authority as the price of the salvation 
of their souls, and who, in a conflict of authority be- 
tween the Pope and the government of the United 
States, would, without hesitation, yield allegiance to 
the Pope? Is it not a fact worthy of some thought that 
a very undue proportion of the field and line officers in 
our army are members of this church, and that the 



ASSASSINATION 'OF ABRAHAM LILCOLN. 23 

same state of things is found in our nav}'? Is it not 
a fact that demands our attention that a largel^^ un- 
due proportion of tlie cadets in our military schools 
<are members, by birth, baptism, and confirmation, of 
the Roman Catholic Church? Do not these very sig- 
nificant and important facts clearly indicate that there 
is an unseen power holding watch and guard over, 
and controlling these things? It was this same unseen 
power that recently secured the promotion of Colonel 
Copinger to a Brigadier Generalshii:), over the heads 
of about twenty brave officers of American ])irth, who 
stood above him on tlie roster for promotion, and whose 
military records were as good as his. Who was this 
Col. Copinger? An Irish adventurer, who commenced 
his military career in the army of the Pope, where he 
spent a year in fighting against the freedom of Italy 
from the grasp of the Papacy. He then came to the 
United States in the early j)art of our civil war, and 
very soon after his arrival at New York, was able to 
command sufficient influence to get him a commission 
in the line of a New York regiment. He served on the 
vside of the Union with such distinction as to win pro- 
motions in the volunteer service; and to secure a place 
on the roster of the regular army, at its reorganization,at 
the close of the war, where, at the time of this last pro* 
motion he held a colonel's commission. His military 



24 Romeo's RESPcmsimr/rr for TffK 

record was good; but his personal record was despica- 
ble. He was aWe, howevei% to secure such influences 
in his fovor as to cause President C'leyeland to pro- 
mote him over a]x>ut twenty colonels whose niilitary 
records were as goo<l as his, and whose pei*sonal re- 
cords were unblemished, and whose only fault was 
that they were Americans and Protestants. His con- 
firmatio'n was opposed actively in the Senate; but the 
Jesuits triumphed and he was confinuied. 

There is a great effort naw being made l)y the Hier- 
archy to secure a concession froni the War Depart- 
ment to build a Roman Catholic Church on the Mili- 
tary reser\''ation at West Point, The })ur|)ose of thi^ 
resen^ation was the establishment of a National Mili- 
taiy School for the education of officers of the army 
of the United States. It is entirely under the owner- 
ship and control of the government; and so knows 
nothino: of sects in relisrion: but, beini^: a christian gov- 
erament, it provides a chapel and a chaplain for the 
use and service of this great National IMilitary SchooL 
But this does not satisfy tlie ambitious designs of 
Rome. She seeks to be so far recognized by the gov- 
ernment as to ]>e permitted to build a chapel for tht 
ex'clusive use of the Roman Catholics; and in the con- 
tention which has sprung up over this question, it lui> 
been stated by the representatives of the Hierarchy, ar 



ASSASjsINATK^N of AP.lLXllA.M LINCOLN. 2o 

an argument in favor of the concession which it seeks, 
that two thirds of the enlisted men on duty at West 
Point, and five of the officers there in command, and 
the family of a sixth, are members of the Roman 
Catholic Church. The only use I now intend to make of 
this reference is simply to ask the question, "How does 
it come about that Rome has gotten such a hold in 
our army? Is it a purel}'' accidental thing that five of 
the officers and two-thirds of the enlisted men on duty 
at this ^lilitary vSchool of the United States Govern^ 
ment, are Roman Catholics?" 

And why does this so called church,alone, so anxious- 
ly seek this concession? Does it not from all this 
plainly appear that Rome is laboring to Romanise our 
army? For what purpose, let us ask ourselves, does 
8he need this military control that she is so anxiously 
and cunningly seeking and obtaining? Could we safely 
commit our institutions to the keeping of a hostile 
army? Or a soldiery under the control of a despotism 
that is obviously laying its wires to destroy our civil 
institutions? In view of Rome's disloyalty in our late 
civil war, can we trust her? Is this a Roman Catholic 
country ? 

In view of the facts above recited, is there not good 
grounds for the conclusion that the wily Jesuits are se- 
cretly watching and ceaselesslv working to get hold of 



2<> romf/s KKspoNsimi/rv h<ni tuk 

all the sources of political i>ower in the United Htatet<: 
as also of -that on which we must ultimately rely for 
defence of our institutions, our army and navy? Is it 
not time that the American people should have their 
attention called to these things, and to their signifi- 
cance? It is the mission of the Christian church to 
publish the Gospel of Life and Salvation, through the 
'•blood of the everlasting covenant," to a lost and 
ruined world; to seek, and to save, the lost; to usher 
in the era of love, and peace, and joy, throughout the 
world. Its mission is to be accomplished through the 
power of truth, applied to the minds and const^iences 
of men by the Holy Spirit. It has no use for carnal 
weapons in the prosecution of its work. Its only legit- 
imate weapon is the Word of God, which is ''the 
Sword of the Spirit." An organization that is always 
and everywhere grasping after wealth and power, using 
and preparing to use, carnal weapons, not even hesi- 
tating at war and bloodshed, whose aim and effort is 
to enslave the minds, consciences, bodies and souls of 
men, fostering the most monstrous and wicked super- 
stitions, that it may fill its coffers with gold; that with- 
liolds from its members the Word of God, and that 
puts the decisions and decrees of Popes and church 
councils in the place of the Scriptures of Divine Truth, 
as the rule of life, surely cannot be recognized as a 



ASS Ai?SI NATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Z/ 

Christian church. Nol It is simply a political ma- 
<L'hine for the enslavement of mankind. It is a mon- 
strous despotism, relying on ignorance, and its natural 
offspring superstition for its support. It is not a re- 
ligion that we are called upon to fight; but a corrupt, 
and most dangerous political organization, whose pur- 
])Ose is nothing short of the destruction of our govern- 
ment. Whatever it may he as a religion does not con- 
cern our present contention. 

Every true American citizen believes in securing to 
every man freedom of the mind and conscience in the 
matter of religion: and will ever stand ready to protect 
him in his right to worship God according to the dic- 
tates of his conscience. We do not inquire into the 
truth or falsity of his religion. W^e accord to him the 
right to determine this for himself; and be answerable 
only to his God. It is not its religion that we call into 
question when we arraign the Roman Catholic Church. 
We only fight it in its political aspirations; and be- 
cause it is the desperate and deadly foe to civil liberty. It 
is, moreover, an active and aggresssve foe; a foe that can 
never be conciliated, never trusted; for when it pro- 
fesses friendship for our institutions its onh^ purpose 
is to throw us off of our guard, that it may the more 
surely undermine and destroy them. We know that 
should it ever gain political control in our land, it 



28 romk's Ri-:spc;\srF?iLrTV for Tir;-; 

would deprive? us of tlie rights^ that wc now aceorxl to 
it. It is an (>r<2,aiiized despotism, and the sworn and 
implacable foe of liberty. It hates the symljol of thi^ 
policy, power, and authority of our government, the 
Hag of our country; and places over it the Papal rag. 
It gives to the highe-^t officer of our government, the 
President of the United States, the second place at its 
festal board, reserving the place of honor to the able- 
gate of the Pope. This insult it has recently perpetra- 
ted upon us in the open light of da}^; and in the most 
eonspicuous and offensive manner — an insult that 
causes the blood of every iVmerican patriot to tingle' 
with resentment. 

It is but too evident that no matter what may be its 
professions, it is, at heart, disloyal to our government; 
and only loyal to the Pope of Rome. This alien power 
is the implacable foe of popular education, and is con- 
stantly laboring for the destruction of our system of 
free schools. Her real motive for this opposition lies 
in the fact that the mental training which her child- 
ren would get in our free schools, would unfit them 
for being loyal, obedient and servile children of the 
church. Here they would be trained to think, to rea- 
son and to investigate; to take nothing on trust, but 
to form their opinions upon all subjects from convic- 
tions resulting from a free and rational investigation. 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM I.IL(X)LX, 2V) 

The whole atmosphere of the free school, and all of 
its associations, would beget in them a love of liberty. 
This system of education is the exact counterpart of 
the S3"stem of the parochial schools, and is destructive 
to that blind faith and servile obedience, that give to 
the Roman Catholic Church its power. Our free 
school system tends to make its beneficiaries good, in- 
telligent, lo^^al, American citizens; whilst the jmrochial 
schools onh^ aim to make their })uj)ils to be loyal sub- 
jects of the Papacy. Under the protection of our flag, 
they are raising up a force to be used for the destruc- 
tion of our government. 

In this contention over the question of education, 
Rome is continually making efforts to unite the church 
aind the State, by securing the aid of the State in sup- 
porting her schools; as also of what she calls her char- 
itable institutions. B}^ thus attacking the fundamental 
principles of our government at every point, she makes 
manifest her dislo^^alty, and her purpose to undermine 
and overthrow our institutions. Our civil and relis- 
ious institutions had their origin in the protest of 
lAither and his coadjutors against the despotism and 
corruptions of the Roman Catholic Church,that brought 
about the Reformation of the 16th century. Against 
this Reformation she has never ceased to fight, and 
never will, until her power shall have been overthrown 



''^ ROME'S KK.SPONSIBIL1TV FOR TH5I 

She has always lieeii tlie sworn enemy of our Protest- 
iint institutions; and is to-day, as she ever has heen^ 
l>ent on their destruction. 8he has never lost an op- 
}>ortunity to give them a sta)> in the dark. In our dis- 
sensions over the (juestion of slavery, she thought she 
saw a chance to destroy our government; and taking 
the side of slavery, used her whole influence, in the 
South, to stimulate and encourage secession and rebel- 
lion, and in the North to discredit and weaken the 
cause of the Union. It was G . T. Beauregard, a rabid 
Roman Catholic, who first fired on the flag of our 
<-ountry at Fort Sunjpter; and let loose the dogs of war. 
It was the Pope of Rome, and he alone, of all the Eu- 
ropean potentates, that gave his recognition and his 
blessing to the Confederate government; and by the 
very terms of his kind letter to its president, made it 
manifest that he expected, through his kind oflices, to 
secure its recognition of his claims; and win it for the 
church. 

It was the Pope of Rome,and. his faithful lieutenant, 
Louis Napoleon, who, taking advantage of our civil war, 
undertook to establish a Roman Catholic empire in 
Mexico,and for this purpose sent ^laximiljan, a Roman 
Catholic prince, under the protection of a French army, 
to usurp dominion, and take possession of the country. 
All of this was done in the hope that the Union cause 



ASSASSINATION OF ABKAIIAM LINCOLN. 



81 



^voukl be lost; and that through the strife that she had 
fomented, two Roman Catholic empires would be es- 
tablished on the American continent, viz. that of Mex- 
ico under Maximilian and that of the Confederacy un- 
der Jefferson Davis; thus making it possible to make a 
i-onquest of the entire continent. This letter of the 
Pope to Jefferson Davis, couched in such courteous 
and loving terms, and showing so clearly that his syn> 
l)athy was with the Southern cause, was well under- 
.^tood by his loyal and laithful .subjects all over the 
North. Roman Catholic officers began to resign and 
the rank and file began to desert, from the time of the 
publication of that letter in 1863 to the close of the w^ar. 
In reply to the boast so freely made by Roman Cath- 
olic editors and orators that the Irish fought the bat- 
tles of the civil war and saved the nation, the follow- 
intr document, received from the Pension department 
at Washington, is here given: 

Whole number of troops '^? 1'^^.. 20(> 

Natives of the United States 1 ,627,267 

(iermans 180,817 

Irishmen 144, 221 

British (other than Irish) 90,040 

Other foreigners and missions 87,855 

The ''Desertions'- were as follows: 
Natives of the United States. 5 per cent. 



S2 R(>:\IE's fJKSPdXSlBrLITV F<tR THE ■ 

GeniTan.H 10 per cent, 

Irish Catholics 7'2 '' 

British (other than Tri^h) 7 "' 

Other foreigners 7 " 

In other words; of the 144,000 Irishmen that enlist- 
ed, 104,000 deserted. And it is rehably stated that 
most of these desertions occurred after the recognition 
of the Confederacy by the Pope. It is also a fact that 
of the five per cent of native Americans rated as de- 
serters, 45 per cent of the 5 per cent were Catholics. — 
Toledo American, as quoted on page 115 of "Why Am 
I An A. P. A." 

This is a sufficient proof of the charge heretofore 
made, that a good Roman Catholic can only be loyal 
to the Pope; and so can never be loyal to our govern- 
ment, and to our Protestant institutions. 

It is true that there were some able and brave Roman 
Catholic officers in the Union army, who were truly 
loyal to the cause; as also many in the ranks who 
were nominally members of the Roman Catholic 
Church; but these were they who had been educated 
in our free schools, and had thus become so imbued 
with the American spirit, that they were no longer 
good Catholics. All honor to these! 

Not only by desertions and resignations was Roman 
Catholic disloyalty made apparent, but more conspicu- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. S3 

ously by the draft riots that followed, tlie rioters beinj^ 
made up, almost entii-ely, of Irish Roman Catholics. 
Arch-bishop Hughes posed as a Union man; and was 
:so far trusted by President Lincoln, that he solicited 
his good offices at Rome, to prevent the Pope from giv- 
ing recognition to the Confederate government; he be- 
ing well aware of the consequences that would folloAV 
^!uch recognition. The Arch -bishop proved a traitor 
to his trust; and the Pope's letter to Jefferson Davis 
followed closely on the heels of his visit to Rome, and 
resignations and desertions commenced. Then follow- 
ed the terrible riots in New York city, when a draft 
became necessary to fill up our depleted ranks. For 
three fearful days and nights the city was terrorized 
V)y the violence of an Irish Catholic mob, right under 
the shadow of the Arch-].)ishop's palace. The Arch- 
bishop kept secluded in his palace, and as mute as a 
mouse, until notified by Mr. Lincoln that he would be 
held personally responsible for its continuance. He 
then came forth; and by a few kind words to the riot- 
ers, whom he addressed as his friends, the mob imme- 
diately dispersed, and order was restored. It only 
took a few words from him to accomplish what could 
not have been accomplished without much bloodshed, 
and perhaps the destruction of the city, by a military 
arm of our government; but mark! those words were 



^^4 Rome's responsibilitv for thk 

not spoken until it became necessary to the personal 
safety of the Arch-bishop. The traitor was here re- 
vealed. And now we come to the last desperate con- 
spiracy to overthrow our govei'nment, and make the 
rebellion a success b}^ a resort to the favorite policy of 
the Jesuits, that of assassination. 

It is my purpose now to review the facts connected 
with the assassination of President Lincoln, and the at- 
tempted assassination of Mr. Seward, and the purpose 
to assassinate Vice-President Johnson, Secretary Stan- 
ton and General Grant. The object of this scheme of 
wholesale assassinations of the civil and military heads 
of the government, was to throw the country into a 
state of chaos, and thus retrieve the fast failing for- 
tunes of the Confederac}'. These facts, as developed 
on the trial of the conspirators before a military com- 
mission, and on the trial of John H. Surratt two years 
later, before a civil court, together wath evidence se- 
cured by Father Chiniquy, and given to the world in 
his book, "Fifty Years In the Church of Rome." show- 
conclusively the hand of Rome in this stab at our na- 
tion's life. I will now proceed to pass these facts in 
review, in their proper order, and to show their signifi- 
cance. * 

I do not propose to affirm or deny the charge that is 
now being commonly and openly made by patriotic 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 



papers and lecturers, that Rome was responsible for 
the assassination of our martyred President, but sim- 
ply to i)resent the facts, and leave ni}- readers to draw 
their conclusion from a consideration of the fiicts in 
the case. My own personal convictions will no doubt 
be made obvious before I get through. The very fact 
that the charge is being made by a high class of men, 
men noted for intelligence, jjatriotism and uprightness 
of character, justifies us in making a careful scrutiny 
of the evidence on which it rests; that we may fairly 
judge whether or not it has been justly made. It is a 
charge of too much gravity and of too serious an im- 
port to be made lightly, or on insufficient grounds. 
Now for the facts. And we will take, as our starting 
point, the fact well established, that the headquarters 
of the conspiracy in Washington City, was the house 
of a Roman Catholic family, of w^hich Mrs. Mary E. 
Surratt was the head; and that all of its inmates, in- 
eluding a number of boarders, were devoted members 
of the Roman Catholic Church. This house was the 
meeting place, the council chamber, of Booth and his 
co-conspirators, including Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, and 
her son, John H. Surratt, who, next to Booth, were the 

* For a full account of which see my book entitled, "Asgas- 
sination of Lincoln, a History of the Great Conspiracy and Trial 
of the Conspirators by a Military Commission and a Review of 
the Trial of John H. 'Surratt." 



H6 KnMP:'S KESrOXb'IKILITY FOR 'niE 

most active members of the conspiracy in preparation 
lor the execution of the ])lot. 

Booth, the ringleader, was l)orn and reared a Protes- 
tant. He was only a nominal Protestant, however. 

He was a man of the world; a drunkard and a lil)er- 
tine, and utterly indifferent to matters of religion. 

That under the inHuence of his associations in the 
conspiracy ])lot, he had become a pervert to Catholic- 
ism, was shown, however, by the fact that, on i^xanii- 
nation of his person after his deatli, it was found that 
he w^as wearinyr a Catholic medal under his vest, and 
^ over his heart. 

The wily Jesuit, sympathizing with him in his po- 
litical views, and in the hope of destroying our govern- 
ment, and establishing the Confederacy, which had al- 
ready received the Pope's recognition, and expressions 
of good will and sympathy conferred upon it, had been 
able to pervert him to Catholicism, and to deceive him 
into the belief that this medal would conduce to his 
personal safety, and to the success of his enterprise. 
He had, no doubt , been baptized into the Catholic 
Church. This medal at once marked and identified 
liim as a pervert to Catholicism. 

Now we have Mary E. Surratt, John H. Surratt, J. 
Wilkes 15ooth, Dr. Samuel Mudd, and Michael 
O'Laughlin, five of the leading active spirits in the ex- 



ASSAPSIXATIOX OF abra'ha:m LI.N'COLX. bi 

eeutio)". of the plot to assassinate, beloiigin|!j t-o tlu^ 
lioman Catholic Cliurch, 

My impression is that Herold and Spangler wer(^ j, ^ 
-ilsG members or adherents to that church. Be this as * 
it may, they, together with Atzerot and Payne, were 
the mere tools, and hired agents of Booth and Surratt, 
and so stood ready to serve their purpose; and so it 
l)oots not to inquire into their faith or want of faith. 

Our inquiry then, thus far, has established the fact 
that five of the conspirators were members of the 
Roman Catholic Church, and that these five were its 
leaders, to whom the execution of the plot had been 
confided. We have also seen that their meeting place, 
«)r council chamber, in Washington, whilst engaged in 
perfecting their arrangements for the assassinations that 
had been determined upon, was the dwelling place and 
under the control of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt and John H, 
Hurratt, her son; both of whom were zealous slaves of 
the Pope, and clearly proven, b}^ the evidence given 
before the Commission and by that given two years 
later, on the trial of John H. Surratt in a civil court, 
to have been leading and active members of the con- 
spiracy. Mrs. Surratt was a dilligent and faithful at- 
tendant upon church services; and from the evidence 
given by three or four priests in her behalf before the 
Commission, she had established, in their estimation, a 



SS . ROMeV f{:j'>TC)NSIf5IIJTV FOR TflE 

high character for devotion and christian piety. 

It was a noteworthy fact, however, that, of all these 
priestly witnesses, but one admitted that he had l)eeD 
on specially intimate tenns with her during the five 
months in which the plans and })reparations for the 
assassinations were being made. Most of them had 
been acquainted with her for many years, and seemed 
to be well acquainted with her church reputation, but 
they had only seen her causally during these latter 
months. One of these, Father Wiget, was Mrs. Sur- 
ratt's pastor during all this time, and testified that he 
knew her well; but did not know whether she was loyal 
or disloyal. This would seem to be \ery doubtful tes- 
timony, as Father Wiget was noted for his disloyalty, 
and could hardly have been supposed to have spent 
many hours with her, at different times, without ever 
having heard her express her views in relation to the 
one all absorbing topic of the time, that was uppermost 
in the minds of all, and fonned the chief topic of con- 
versation. He could only say that he did not remem- 
ber having heard her utter a loyal sentiment since the 
beginning of the rebellion; nor could he remember 
having heard any one speak of her as notoriously dis- 
loyal, until since her arrest. He said he had become 
acquainted with her through having had the care of 
two of her sons as his j)upils, one of these was serving 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 

in the rebel army; and the other, John PL Siirratt,had 
been a rebel emissary and spy for three years, passing 
back and forth between Washington and Richmond, 
and from Richmond to Canada and back, as a bearer 
of dispatches, and yet, this Jesuitical priest, endeavor- 
ed so to shape his testimony as to leave the impression 
that the topics of conversation between himself and 
Mrs. Surratt, whilst all this was going on, and much 
more, was confined to such topics as the state of her 
health, the weather, etc., etc. He was veiy positive as 
to her good christian character, which he had been 
-summoned to prove, but had very little recollection of 
anything else. 

Father BoylCj^sident at St. Peter's CEurch, Wash- 
ington City, had made the acquaintance of Mrs. Sur- 
ratt eight or nine years previously, but had only met 
her three or four times since. He had alwa\^s heard 
her well spoken of; never had heard anything to her 
disadvantage; had never heard her utter any disloyal 
sentiments. 

Father Stonestreet, pastor of St. Aloysius Church, 
Washington City, had made her acquaintance twenty 
• years before; had only occasionally seen her since; had 
scarcely seen her at all during the last year or two; had 
always looked upon her as a proper christian matron. 
At the time of his acquaintance with her, (which he 



40 Ka-siF/s KESPcJNSiKiL'n' tor thk 

was locating twenty veara back) tlierc wat? no question 
of her lojaltr. Replying to a <|ue&tion by the Judge 
Advocate: — -"He did not remember having seen her„ 
tho-ugh he might have done so transiently, since the 
commencement of the rebellion; and knew nothing of 
her character for loyalty, only what he had seen in the 
palmers."' 

Father Lanihan, a Catholic priest living near Bean- 
town, in Mai-yland, testified that he had been acquaint- 
ed with Mrs. Siirratt for about thirteen years; intimate- 
ly for about nine years; that he had been very familii>r 
with her, staying at her house. He regarded her as tr 
good christian woman, highly honorable; he had fre- 
quently talked with her about current events, and pub- 
lic affairs since the rebellion, but could not remember 
ever having heard her express any disloyal sentiments: 
neither had he heard her reputation for loyalty spoken 
of 

Finally; Father Young, of St. Dominick's Church, 
on Sixth street, Washington City, was called in her be- 
half; he had been acquainted with INIrs. Surratt about 
eight or ten years, but not intimately; he had occa- 
sionally seen her, and visited her; passed her house 
about once a month, and generally called there, stay- 
ing sometimes an hour. He, like the others, was a 
good witness for her as to her character, but could say 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 41 

nothing as to her loyalty, or disloyalty; he had never 
heard her speak as to current events one way or an- 
other. How can we credit the testimony of this wit- 
ness? Is it credible that he could have spent an hour 
in conversation with a rebel woman of such positive 
character and convictions, gnce a month, during the 
heat of the conflict, and yet never have heard any ex- 
pressions from her on the subject that filled the minds 
and hearts of all, and formed the chief topic of conver- 
sation, in all classes of societ}'? Such silence between 
a rebel woman and a rebel priest, who were on inti- 
mate and confidential terms, is too incredible to be be- 
lieved. We cannot help thinking that all of these 
holy or unholy Fathers testified under the well under- 
stood mental reservations of the Jesuits. /Eather Wiget 
was, as we have said, her pastor, and so, we take it, was 
her confessor. We cannot think it at all probable that 
she would have engaged in a conspiracy fraught with 
so much danger to her, and such grave consequences 
hereafter, without having confided to him her terrible 
secret; nor without his approval. It certainly is rather 
strange that she should have broken her relations with 
him after her conviction, and taken Father W^alter for 
her confessor and spiritual guide in her preparation for 
death 

There must have been some grave reason for this 



42 kome's responsibility for the 

change; and it was made for her, by these Jesuit 
priests, for some very important reason. It is not at 
all likely that at such a time, and under such solemn 
circumstances, she would have made this change from 
her pastor to another priest with whom she had not 
had any previous acquaintance, of her own volition. 
Had she been innocent, her trusted pastor would have 
been the one to whom she would naturally have looked 
for consolation. But Wiget had no doubt told her that 
she would incur no guilt in aiding the conspirac3\ and 
so to Walter she could declare her innocence, having 
the faith of a Catholic in Wiget's i)ower to grant her 
this dispensation. Father Walter could say "that 
whilst his priestl}" vows would not allow him to reveal 
the secrets of the confessional, he could say, that from 
w'hat there came to his knowledge, he knew her to be 
an innocent woman." There was to be a great effort 
made to get a commutation, or reversal of her sentence; 
and the strong plea of the Father was to be based on 
this assertion of her innocence. Failing in this, Father 
Walter, for thirt}'^ years, persisted in his effbrts to fix 
upon the government the stigma of having murdered 
an innocent w'oman. 

In its uniting with Father Walter in his effort to fix 
upon our government the stigma of a great crime, to 
its eternal disgrace, the Roman Catholic Hierarchy as- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 4o 

sumed, with him. the responsibility of perverting the 
well established truths of histor}^ and of thus mani- 
festing their hatred of our government, and their cha- 
grin and bitter disappointment at the failure of their 
efforts for its overthrow. 

So deep, and bitter, was their disappointment at the 
signal sucess of the government in the vindication of 
its authority, and its right to exist, that for a quarter 
of a century it never ceased its efforts to lix upon it 
the stigma of this alleged crime, and it was only estop- 
ped from this effort by the publication of my "History 
of the Great Conspiracy" to overthrow our government 
by a series of assassinations, when, fearing that its 
further agitation might tend to give publicity to my 
l)ook, and that thus the facts of this conspiracy would 
become more widely known, and the truth of history 
vindicated, that the agitation of this charge, and con- 
tention against the government, was dropped as it had 
become a hot potato. We must not forget, that in all 
this, they acted under a full knowledge of all the facts 
in the case. These had been fully displayed to the 
world through the evidence produced by the govern- 
ment on the trial of the assassins in 1865, and two 
years later, still more fully, on the trial of John H. 
Surratt in a civil court. These things were not done in a 
corner, but openly before the world. Their sympathy 



44 Rome's kespoxsibilty p'or the 

with the conspirators and assassins, and their enmity 
toward the government, was thus openly proclaimed 
before the world ; and the attitudf^ of the Hierarchy 
toward the assassination of the nation's head, was 
made clearly manifest. It Avas Abraham Lincoln, it is 
true, that was slain, but it was the life of the nation 
that the blow was aimed at. The scheme to aid the 
rebellion by the assassination of the President, the 
Vice-President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary 
of War, and the General in command of our armies, 
was concocted by the emissaries of the rebel govern- 
ment, who kept their headquarters in ^lon- 
treal ,Canada. These emissaries held a semi- 
ofhcial relation to the Confederate govern- 
ment. The whole run of the evidence makes it clear 
that the Roman Hierarchy kept itself in close rela- 
tions with these emissaries; and it is highly probable, 
from a consideration of all of the facts, with the head 
of the government in whose service they were employ- 
ed also. It kept itself in these close relations for a 
purpose, and was most likely the original source of the 
inspiration of the assassination plot. These rebel emis- 
saries were Jacob Thompson, of Mississippi, Clement 
C. Clay, of Alabama, and Beverly Tucker, of Virginia. 
These had associated with them as helpers, George N. 
Sanders, Dr. I>lackburn, and others; men who prefer- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 

red to fight in the field of political strategy, rather 
than on the field of battle. 

These agents of the rebel government entered into a 
contract with J. Wilkes Booth and John H. Surra tt to 
carry out their scheme, and also aided them in the 
selection of their subordinates. Whether these emis- 
saries were Protestants or Catholics, I am not in- 
formed. My impression, however, is that they were 
nominally Protestants. They were all, however, wicked 
men, evidently accepting the maxim that "all is fair in 
war," and having no conscientious scruples as to the 
means that they employed to give aid to their cause. 
That the Jesuit had their ear, and aided them with 
his suggestions, is made probable by the fact, that in 
liis efforts to enlist, as a helper to Booth and Surratt, 
a young man who was sent before the commission as 
a witness, on the trial, Thompson used the Jesuitical 
argument, that to kill a tyrant was no murder; and so, 
assuming that President Lincoln was a tyrant, it would 
be a glorious and praisworthy act to take him off'. 

That the assassination plot was known to the Bishop 
of Montreal (Bourget) and a number of his priests. 
before its accomplishment, and received their sanction, 
was made plain by their subsequent conduct. As soon 
as the news of the assassination of the President was? 
flashed over the wires, Fathers Boucher and La Pierre 



46 home's responsibility for the 

kept themselves on the lookout, and ready to aid any 
of the conspirators who might make good their escape 
to Canada. John H. Siirratt and a companion, whose 
identity was never discovered, returned to Montreal, on 
the early afternoon of the 18th of April, the fourtli 
day after the assassination. The unknown conspirator 
then sank out of sight. Surratt was spirited away from 
the hotel within fifteen minutes after he had registered 
on his return. He had registered on the same book, 
on his return from Richmond to Canada, on the 6th of 
April, had gone back to Washington and played his 
part in the conspiracv on the night of the 14th of April, 
and now, on the afternoon of the 18th, had gotten back 
to Montreal, and was so carefully watched for, that al- 
most at the instant of his arrival, he was spirited away, 
and kept hidden carefully, in the house of Porterfield, 
one of Thompson's assistants, who, for his greater se- 
curity, had relinquished his American citizenship, and 
had taken the oath of allegiance to the British crown. 
Porterfield told him that the detectives were on the 
alert, and lost no time in hiding him away. 

Porterfield, deeply exercised for the safety of his 
charge, as also for his own, onl}' kept him until he 
could communicate with Father Boucher, a Roman 
Catholic priest, who lived in an out of the way coun- 
try parish, forty-five miles from Montreal. Father 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 47 

Boucher immediaiely sent his servant man to bring 
Surratt to his place for further hiding. Du Tilly, 
Father Boucher's man, arrived before the house of 
Porterfield late in the evening of the 21st of April, and, 
taking Surratt into his carriage, drove him away under 
the cover of darkness, and placed him in the keeping 
of his master, Father Boucher. Here he remained for 
two months, under the most careful watch and guard 
of his keeper. Whilst here he was visited frequently 
by some of his friends in whose employ he had incur- 
red his guilt; and by another Father, La Pierre. This 
La Pierre was canon to Bishop Bourget; ate at his 
table, and was to him the same as a hand and arm. 

A circumstance having occurred that made it neces- 
sary for Father Boucher to unload his charge, he sent 
him back to Montreal, as secretly as he had taken him 
away from there, and placed him in the care of Father 
La Pierre. 

This Father provided Surratt with an upstairs cham- 
ber in his own father's house, right under the shadow 
of the Bishop's palace. Here he kept him for three 
months, never permitting him to leave his room in the 
day time, and never at night but in company with 
himself, and in disguise. Thus was Surratt kept hid- 
den away for five months, in the care and at the charge, 
of the Roman Catholic Church; two of its priests keep- 



48 Rome's responsibility for the 

ing watch and ward over him, with a full knowledge 
of his crime, thus making themselves accomplices after 
the fact, as they also, no doubt were, before its accom- 
plishment. But how about Bishop Bourget? He stands 
behind the scenes, it is true, but was he not equally 
guilty? The organization of the Hierarchy is a com- 
plete military despotism, of which the Pope is the os- 
tensible head; but of which, the Black Pope, is the 
real head. The Black Pope is the head of the order 
of the Jesuits, and is called a General. He not only 
has the absolute command of his own order, but di- 
rects and controls the general policy of the church 
He is the power behind the throne, and is the real po- 
tential head of the Hierarchy. The whole machine is 
under the strictest rules of military discipline. The 
whole thought and will of this machine, to plan, pro- 
pose and execute, is found in its head. There is no 
independence of thought, or of action, in its subordi- 
nate parts. Implicit and unquestioning obedience to 
the orders of superiors in authority, is the sworn duty 
of the priesthood of every grade; just as it is the duty 
of officers in the army; and as much the duty of the 
laity to their priests, as it is of the rank and file in an 
army to their immediate commanders. There is a com- 
plete chain of responsibility, extending from the head 
all the way down to the membership. Thus the 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LlNroLN, 4J) 

whole vast organization can be wielded, as a unit, to 
accomplish the plans and purposes of its head. The 
priest is virtually an intellectual slave to his bishop, 
the bishop to his arch-bishop, and these again to the 
cardinals, and all, finally, to the Popes, white and 
black. This being the case, it is clear that no priest 
would have dared to take on himself such grave re- 
sponsibilities as did Fathers Boucher and La Pierre, 
involving so much danger to themselves, as also to the 
character of their church, without the knowledge and 
assent of their bishop. It would have been held to be 
an act of insubordination, fraught with the most ser- 
ious consequences to themselves. But the canon oc- 
cupies a peculiar relation to his bishop, and is sup- 
posed to have no other duty, but to carry out the or- 
ders which he receives from his superior. In this 
view of the case, which represents truly the relations 
between Bishop Bourgct and his Canon, La Pierre, can 
we rationally come to any other conclusion than that 
Bourget was in a moral point of view, also a member 
of the conspiracy; neither would Bishop Bourget have 
dared to give his consent to this crime on his own in- 
dependent responsibility. He knew he was acting in 
harmon}^ with the desire and purpose of the Hierar- 
chy, for the destruction of our government. 

The Jesuit plans with the utmost art and cunning, un- 



'")() romeV' k'p:spon>'ibility for the 

hampered l)y any moral restraints, and always with the 
utmost secrecy; and carries out his plans in the dark. 
We think, however, that in this case, we have suc- 
ceeded in tracing him through all the devious wan- 
derings of his dark and slimy path, and. in fixing 
upon him the responsibility for the assassination of 
President Lincoln. 

But we are not done yet. In the early part of Sep- 
tember, 1865, these unholy Fathers thought it safe to 
unload their charge onto their l^rethren in England; 
and so made airangements for sending Surratt across 
the Atlantic, under an assumed name, and in disguise. 

For this purpose they arranged for his passage on a 
British steamer, the Peruvian, which was to sail from 
Quebec on the IGth of September, 1865. 

A physician with whom Boucher was well ac- 
({uainted, by the name of McMillen, had just gotten 
the position of surgeon to this vessel, and they ar- 
ranged with him to take under his especial charge, a 
man by the name of McCarthy, who, for certain rea- 
S(ms, wished to cross the Atlantic under an assumed 
name, and in the most secret manner. The day before 
the Peruvian was to sail from Quebec, these two un- 
holy Fathers conveyed Surratt, in a covered carriage, 
to the steamer that was to carr}' passengers for the Pe- 
ruvian from Montreal to Quebec. They had disguised 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. ol 

Surratt by coloring liis hair, painting his face, and put- / 
ting spectacles over his eyes. Father La Pierre went 
also in the disguise of a citizen's dress. Arriving on 
l)oard the steamer, Surratt was immediately stored 
away in a state-room, from which he did not emerge 
during the voyage. La Pierre remaining in his room 
with him. Reaching Queb'^c, these two unholy Fathers 
placed tlieir charge in the care of Dr. McMillen; and 
then took their final leave of him. 

They had consigned him to the care of their friends 
in Liverpool, by the hands of Dr. Mc^Millen, and 
through whose aid Surratt succeeded in placing him- 
self under the care of the Roman Catholic Church in a 
foreign land. Rome is everywhere, and alwa3^s the 
same, and he can feel safe as long as he is in the cus- 
tody of the church. Here he waited for the Peruvian 
to make another voyage to Quebec and return. He 
sent by the surgeon, to his rebel employers in Canada, 
a request to send him some money; but only to re- 
ceive the answer that they had no money for him. The 
expense of sending him across the continent, to Italy, 
thus fell on the church. His rebel friends had now 
forsaken him; but his church stood by him. He w^as 
sent to Italy and was mustered into the army of the 
Pope. Here he remained safely hidden away for a 
year or more; but was finally discovered by a govern- 



52 irmrE^s KE?rpaNsir?ir/r\' van nn: 

nient (It-tectiv .who had been sent in search of him, and 
^rho went voluntaiily, hoping to get the offered reward, 
and who had enlisted in the same company to which 
►Surratt belonged. This detective infonnedour govern- 
ment ot'Iitis discoveiy; and through the agents of our 
li-overnment the Po])e was informed that his soldier^ 
who had enlisted under the name of Watson, was none 
other than the notorious John H. Surr^ktt, Avho was a 
member of the conspiracy that accomplished the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln, 

With a shrewd show of virtuous innocence, the Pope- 
hastened to clear his skirts^ and those of his under- 
lings, by ordering his arrest, and rendition to our gov- 
ernment, without waiting for its requisition. He was 
V I arrested by the Pope's authority, but was allowed to 
escape by his guards; and thus given another chance 
for life and liberty. The story was, that he made his 
escape by a l)old leap over a precipice, at the risk of 
his life. ''Tell this to the marines; the old sailors will 
not believe it." He was finally captured at Alexan- 
dria, Egypt, and was brouglit home in chains, where 
he was held to answer for his crime. Let us here pause 
for a moment to consider the relations of the Hierarchy 
to this crime. The testimony given on the*trial of John 
H. Surratt, clearly convicts two of its priests, Boucher 
and La Pierre, of being accomplices in the conspiracy; 



ASSASSINATION OF AP.UAHAM LINCOLN. Oo 

mid by iinplication, as clearly convict)^ the Bishop of 
Montreal, Bishop Bourget. This testimony was spread 
before the world, and so must have been known to the 
Roman Catholic Hierarchy, yet it never-<;alled-an-v^ -of 
these priests to accountability, or held them responsi- 
V»le for this crime; the crime of the agesi No one of 
them was ever held to have forfeited his standing or 
good character in the church, on account of his connec- 
tion with this conspiracy; and so, the Hierarchy stands 
before the world to-day, as having given its approval 
to their conduct in this matter. 

We now come to the trial of John H. Surratt before 
a civil court. It is not our purpose to go into a general 
review of the trial; l)ut only to show the interest taken 
in it by the Roman Catholic priesthood; the animus 
of'the defense toward the government; and the means 
resorted to, to make sure of his acquittal. The hand 
of the Jesuit is everywhere traceable throughout the 
history of this trial; and by that hand, one of the most 
important trials that the history of American jurispru- 
dence records, was well nigh turned into a farce by 
the skill and cunning of the defense. The cunning of 
the Jesuit was exercised in the preparations made in 
advance, to make sure of acquittal of the accused. The 
law of Congress, specifying particularly how juries to 
try cases in the criminal court, in the District of Col- 



54 home's responsibility for the 

umbia, should be secured, was entirely ignored, in 
some of its most important and essential particulars. 
Counsel for the defense had l^een selected with special 
care. There were three of these; Mr. Merrick and the 
two Bradleys, Sr. and Jr. Of these, only one, Mr. Mer- 
rick, was a member of the Roman Catholic Church. 
The Bradlciys were Episcopalians: but in their })olitical 
sympathies, hostile to the government; and in full 
sympathy with its enemies, and with the assassins. 
When the jury that had been drawn for this trial was 
challenged by the prosecution, and good reasons shown 
for its rejection, the counsel for the defense made a 
most vigorous, earnest and persistent effort to prevent 
its being set aside by the court. It is evident that 
they must have had a special reason for being so urgent 
for its retention, as the failure of the officers, whose 
duty it was to secure this jury, to observe the require- 
ments of the law, was made so apparent that it could 
not be controverted. It leaked out, however, that six- 
teen out of the twent3^-four drawn were Roman Catho- 
lics, and so, the reason for their determined effort for 
its retention was made obvious. It was set aside, and 
a venire was summoned, from which to obtain a jury. 
A jury was finally obtained, through a two-days effort 
and as the prosecution desired to remove, as far as pos- 
sible, all religious, and political considerations, and 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 55 

influences, from the trial, a considerable number of 
Roman Catholics were accepted on this juiy. The trial 
then proceeded. 

The defense proceeded at once to put the govern- 
ment, and not the prisoner at the bar, on trial. They 
arraigned it for the murder of an innocent woman, Mrs. 
Surratt; and for having secured her conviction through 
an illegal tribunal, organized to convict,and not to try. 
By every means in tlieir power they aroused a parti- 
vsan spirit, of political and religious bigotry; and so, 
surrounded the court with the air and spirit of a polit- 
ical convention, and removed, as far as possible, from 
the trial, the air and spirit of a judicial procedure. 
The result was a hung jury. The author was informed 
by a ver}" intelligent man, who took a prominent part 
in this trial, that, meeting one of the jurors, who ap- 
peared to be a very frank and intelligent man, on the 
day after the trial, he asked him if he felt free to tell 
how the jury stood. He replied that they were very 
nearly equally divided for conviction and acquittal. 
He then asked him if they did not think that he w^as 
proven guilty. "Oh, yes," he replied, "we thought he 
was proven guilty, but we thought his conviction 
would be a triumph for the Radicals, and we thought 
that the hanging of his mother was about enough." 

A most noteworthy fact in connection with this trial, 



56 komk's RESTONsirufjTY FOR riu: 

as bearing upon the subject of our investigation, wm^ 
the deep interest manifested by the Roman Catholic 
priesthood of Washington in this tiial; and their sym- 
pathy with the accused. There was scarcely a day. 
during the trial, but what one or more of them was 
found in the court room. They also made it manifest 
that they were there in behalf of the prisoner at the 
bar; and that they were ready to aid in his defense was 
very apparent. 

Whenever the prosecution brought a witness on the 
stand whose testimony was i)articularly damaging to 
the accused, a witness was always found to rebut his 
testimony: and was always a member of the Roman 
Catholic Church. It was also a very significant fact, 
that no one of all these witnesses was able to pass the 
ordeal of Judge Pierrepont's cross-examination un- 
scathed. It looked as though the task of these priests 
was to aid the prisoner's counsel, by finding the Avit- 
nesses that they needed; and stuffing them with the 
needed testimony. It was thus made manifest, during 
the trial, on more than one occasion, that witnesses had 
been hunted up and furnished with a cooked up testi- 
mony, to meet the requirements of the case. It is 
worthy of note that Avhenever the prosecution thought 
it important to rebut any testimony a witness was al- 
ways promptly found for them; and was always a 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 57 

Catholic, The manner of these witnesses in testify- 
intr and the fact that they coukl never stand the test 
of Judge Pierrepont's searching cross-examinationjustly 
gave rise to the suspicion that they had heen suborned / 
and were delivering a cooked up testimony. And these 
facts gave rise to the suspicion that it was the special 
luisiness of some one to find and stuft' witnesses for the 
occasion. 

John H. 8urratt had been a student at St. Mary's 
College for a year or two, at the breaking out of the 
war. He had commenced a collegiate course, having 
the priesthood in view. His sympathies were so 
strongly with the South that he left the college, gave 
up his priestly aspirations, and engaged actively in 
the secret service of the Confederate government. 

As a student, he was very j^opular at the college and 
seemed to have won the favor of the president and fac- 
ulty. The summer vacation at the college occurred 
during the progress of the trial, and the president took 
occasion to spend a day in the court room, and sat, all 
day, at the side of the prisoner in the dock. His 
Ijresence there was no doubt intended to have its ef- 
fect on the Roman Catholic members of the jury. It 
was as much as to say, ''You see which side I am on." 
Many of the students of that college took occasion to 
visit their former fellow student during the trial; and 



5S KOMifs ijKspoNsnnrjTV vou tiik 

iihvays iiuiuifested tlieir sympathy I'or him \)y the 
warmest friendly greetings; taking their places at hit* 
side. 

How different was their treatment of his, and their, 
fellow stndent, L. J. Wiechmann, who has also had the 
priesthood in view, but, finding himself unable to con- 
tinue at college, turned aside, temporarily, to rei)lenish 
his pecuniary resources. He first found employment 
as a teacher in one of the Roman Catholic schools of 
the city of Washington; but finding a more lucrative 
position in one of the government offices, in the mili- 
tary department, he resigned his position as teacher, 
and l)ecairie a clerk luider General Iloff'man, who was 
Comissary General of prisoners. Mrs. 8urratt rented 
her pro[)erty • at Surrattsville, and took a house in 
Washington, and as a means of support, took in board- 
(^rs. 'riu-ough his ace]uaintance with her son, John H. 
Surratt, at St. Mary's college, Wiechmann became an 
inmate of her house; and boarded and lodged there for 
some months before, and up to the time of the assassi- 
nation. In this way he saw many things that occurretl 
in that house in connection with the conspiracy, but 
without understanding their import; and as he was a 
very agreeable and obliging young man, bright and in- 
telligent, he seems to have been a favorite with Mrs. 
8urratt. He frequently escorted her to church, as she 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 5^1 

was a very devout Catholic; and was used by her on 
two occasions, just before the assassination, to drive 
her down to her former home at Surrattsville. The last 
time was on the afternoon before the assassination. As 
soon as the assassination was made known, the military 
police of the city and General Baker's whole secret ser- 
vice force, were set at work to discover the perpetrators 
of the crime. It was soon ascertained that it was John 
Wilkes Booth who had shot the President; and the de- 
tectives soon discovered thatSurratt was an accomplice 
of Booth; and that Booth had been a frequent caller, 
of late, at the house of Mrs. Surratt; and so, within six 
hours after the assassination, Mrs. Surratt' s house was 
visited by the detectives, and all of its inmates were 
kept under their surveillance. Wiechmann went, vol- 
untarily, to the Provost Marshal's office, along with 
another of the inmates of Mrs. Surratt's house, by the 
name of Hollohan, and submitted to a most rigorous 
examination on the following morning. Wiechmann, 
honestly and conscientiously, in answer to the ques- 
tions put to him, narrated all that he knew in connec- 
tion with Booth's visits to Mrs. Surratt's house. This 
examination developed the fact that Booth's business 
there was always with John H. Surratt, and in his ab- 
sence, with his mother; and that it was always strictly 
private and confidential in its character. 



GO j{()mk's re8P()Xsiimlty for the 

Wiechniann was thus discovered to be an important 
witness in the case, and was so held by the government. 

After the arrest of Mrs. Surratt, and Payne, Wiech- 
mann recognized Payne as a man wlio liad made two 
visits. to Mrs. Surratt's, once under an assumed name 
and other suspicious circumstances; and remaining 
there three days on the occasion of his last visit. He 
left for Baltimore, l)Ut returned a few days later, clan- 
destinely, to the city, and occupied quarters that had 
been provided for him by Surratt, where he was kept 
hidden away; but had been visited, on one occasion, 
by Mrs. Surratt, to the knowledge of Wiechmann. All 
of these things he faithfully related to the examining 
officer. On the trial of Mrs. Surratt he showed himself 
to be a conscientious witness to the truth. He was 
placed in a very delicate and trying position, in being 
called upon to testify in a case where those with whom 
he had been intimately associated, and trusted as 
friends, were on trial for the highest crime that they 
could have committed; and that involved their lives. 
His bearing before the court made it manifest that he 
felt very deeply the delicacy and gravity of his posi- 
tion; but that he could not shrink from a frank dis- 
closure of the facts that had come within his knowl- 
edge, in connection with the case. The facts disclosed 
by this witness, taken by themselves, though calculated 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. Gl 

to give rise to strong suspicions of Mrs. Surratt's con- 
nection with the crime, were not sufficient to have con- 
victed her. It was only when the testimony of Lloyd 
and of Col. Smith was made to supplement that of 
Wiechmann, that her guilt was clearly shown. Because 
Wiechmann had been thus brought into the case as a 
witness, and had given an honest and truthful testis 
mony, he was most cruelly followed up with the per- 
secutions of the Roman Catholic priesthood; and was 
treated, by both priest and layman, as an excommu- 
nicated person, only worthy of scorn and contempt; 
*nd on no account to be associated with. He was 
given to know that he would never be allowed to enter 
the priesthood; and it was only through the good of- 
fices of the government that he was allowed to find any 
employment by which to gain a livelihood. He never 
met the face of any priest after that, for many years at 
least, but to see the deepest expression of hatred and 
scorn. He was completely boj^cotted, and ostracised 
by his church. 

He was made a witness again on the trial of John 
H. Surratt, when every effort was made by the counsel 
for the defense to cause him to contradict the testi- 
mony he had given before the commission; but without 
avail. To discredit him, much of the cooked up testi- 
mony above referred to, was brought in. 



02 Rome's responsibility for the 

In this effort, also, they were foiled. He was had- 
gered on the witness stand for two whole days, and 
treated with the most scornful contein])t hy the coun- 
sel for the defense. He was branded by them as a per- 
jured witness, although they had been unable to ini- 
j^each him by the methods known to the law. He was 
even charged with having been a member of the con- 
spiracy; and that he had testified f\ilsely, to save his 
own neck by convicting Mrs. Surratt. It was even 
charged that he had bought his immunity from the 
government by consenting to give the testimony which 
it had prepared for him, in order to convict Mrs. Sur- 
ratt. This charge has also been reiterated publicly, 
within a ver}^ recent period. Wiechmann was on the 
witness stand, at the time of the visit of the president 
of St. Mary's college, and of its students to Surratt, in 
the court room, but could rot gain the slightest token 
of recognition from any of them. They were fast and 
free to show their warmest sympathy with the man who 
stood before the world as guilty of the murder of the 
President of the United States, but would not recognize 
the man, who, but recently, had stood on equal terms 
with him at the college, as a fellow student. And why 
was this? The only obvious reason was, that he had 
been an honest and conscientious witness to the truth. 

The same treatment was given by the counsel for the 



ASSASSINATION OF AlUiAHAM LINCOLN. 68 

accused to another witness; Dr. McMillen. 

It will be remembered that this witness was the sur- 
geon of the Peruvian, and that it was to his care that 
8urratt had been committed, under the name of Mc- 
Carthy, by his co-conspirators, Bouclier and La Pierre. 

The voyage across the Atlantic occu])ied seven or 
eight days, and as the doctor was tlie only man on 
board in whom Surn».tt could confide, and as he was 
carrying in his breast the secrets of a great crime, that 
was weighing heavily on his conscience, and being all 
the time haunted by the spectre of detectives, it w^as 
natural that he should seek relief in the confidential 
companionship of McMillen. He became very com- 
municative, and related the difliculties that he exper- 
ienced and overcame, in making good his escape from 
Washington, and in getting back to Canada, after the 
assassination — the parts taken by Porterfield, Boucher 
^md La Pierre, in keeping him hidden away in Canada 
for five months, and many other things relating to the 
conspiracy; and, finally, he revealed to him his iden- 
tity. The testimony of this witness was entirely con- 
clusive as to his guilt, and so, he was particularh' ob- 
noxious to the prisoner's counsel. 

He was treated by them, from the start, just as they 
would have treated a witness who had been convicted 
of perjury, although they were unable to discredit him, 



64 Rome's hksponsibility van the • 

by the legal methods. They oould not look at him, or 
speak of him, l)ut with the air and language of scorn 
and contempt. So important did it seem to discredit 
this witness, that priest Boucher voluntarily came all 
the way from Canada, to rebut his testimony. His 
man, I)u Tilly, was also l)rought; ])ut notwithstanding 
the fact that they showed themselves to be swift wit- 
nesses, of the most ready kind, they failed to discredit 
this witness. Under the searching cross-examination 
of Judge Pierrepont they were made to corroborate the 
testimony given by the doctor, in all of its most essen- 
tial and important particulars, and the unholy Father 
was made to convict himself of being equally guilty 
with the prisoner. ^ 

It would seem that the Jesuits had had it in mind, 
from the l)eginningof the war,to find an occasion for the 
taking off' of Mr. Lincoln. Early in the war, they set 
a paragraph going the roynds of the press, as tar as 
they had it under their control, to the effect that Mr. 
Lincoln had been born in the Catholic Church, and 
had lieen made a member of the church by his baptism 
into it, and that he had apostatized, and became a her- 
etic. Mr. Lincoln had seen this statement going the 
rounds of the press, and believed that such a gross 

* iSee report of the trial of John H. Surratt, published in 
two iuhnnes by tlie government. 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 05 

falsehood would not have, been published without a 
])urpose. On the occasion of a visit from Father Chi- 
ni(iuy about this time, Mr. Lincoln called his attention 
to this paraj2;raph, saying, he had been greatly per- 
plexed in trying to discover the object of its publica- 
tion; and askino- him if he could give anv clue to the 
motive that had inspired such a falsehood. I will give 
Father Chiniquy's own account of his interview with 
the President on this subject. 

*'The next day, I was there at the appointed hour, 
with my noble friend, who said, 'I could not give you 
more than ten minutes yesterday, but I will give you 
twenty to-day; I want your views about a thing which 
is exceedingly puzzling to me. and you are the only 
one to whom I like to speak on that subject. A great 
number of Democratic papers have been sent to me, 
lately, evidently written by Roman Catholics, publish- 
ing that I was born a Roman Catholic; and baptized 
by a priest. They call me a renegade, an apostate, on 
account of that; and they heap upon my head moun- 
tains of abuse. At first, I laughed at that, for it is a 
lie, thanks be to God, I have never been a Roman 
Catholic. No priest of Rome has ever laid his hand 
on my head. But the persistency of the Romish press 
to present this falsehood to their readers as a gospel 
truth, must have a meaning: -Please tell me, as briefly 



66 Rome's Rf:sro\siBii/rY for the 

as possible,. what 3^011 think al>out that/ "M>^ dear 
Presirlent," I answered, "it was just this strange story 
published about you, which brought nie here 3'ester- 
da3\ T wanted to say a word to you about it; but you 
were too busy. T.et nie tell you that 1 wept like a 
chihl when I read that stoi\y tor the first time. For, 
not only my impression is, that it is \^our sentence of 
death, but I have it from the lips of a converted priest, 
that it is in order to excite the fanaticism of the Roman 
Catholic murders, whom the\' hope to lind, sooner or 
later, to strike you down, they have invented that fals(^ 
story of your being born in the church of Rome, and 
of your being baptized b}- a priest. Thev want by that 
to brand your face with the ignominious mark of 
apostacy. Do not forget that, in the church of Rome, 
an apostate is an outcast, who has no place in society, 
and who has no right to live. The Jesuits want the 
Roman Catholics to believe that you are a monster, an 
open enemy of God and of the church, that you are an 
excommunicated man. For, every apostate is ipso 
facto, excommunicated. I have brought to you the 
theology of 6ne of the most learned and approved of 
the Jesuits of his time, Bussambaum, wdio, with many 
others, say that the man who will kill 3'ou, will do a 
good and holy work. More than that, here is a copy 
of a decree of Gregory VII, proclaiming that the kill- 



ASSASSINATION OF AIUJAHAM LINCOLN. 67 

ing of an apostate, or a heretic, and an excoinmunica- 
ted man, as you are declared to be, is not murder; nay, 
that it is a good, a christian action. That decree is 
incor[)orated in the canon law, which every priest must 
study, and which every good Catholic must follow. 

"My dear President, I must re})eat to you here, what 
I said when in Urbanna, in 1856. My fear is that 
you will fall under the l)lows of a Jesuit assassin, if 
you do not pay more attention than you have done, 
till now, to protect yourself. Remember that because 
Coligny was a heretic, as you are, he was brutally 
murdered in the 8t. Bartholomew night; that Henry IV 
was stabbed by the Jesuit assassin, Revaillae, the 14th 
of May, 1()10, for having given li])erty of conscience to 
his people, and that William, the Taciturn, was shot 
dead by another Jesuit murderer, called Girard, for 
having broken the yoke of the Pope. The church of 
Rome is absolutely the same to-day, as she was then; 
Uie does believe and teach, to-day, as then, that she 
has the right and that it is her duty to punish with 
death any heretif who is in her way as an obstacle to 
her designs. 

"The unanimity with which the Catholic Hierarchy 
of the United States is on the side of the rebels, is an 
incontrovertible evidence that Rome wants to destroy 
the Republic, and as you are,by your personal influence 



68 ROME S RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE 

and popularity, your love of liberty, your })Oyition, tlie 
greatest obstacle to their diabolical scheme, their hatred 
is concentrated on you; you are the dail}'^ object of 
their maledictions; it is at your breast they will direct 
their blows. My Idood chills in my veins when I con- 
template the day which may come, sooner or later, 
when Rome will add to all her other iniquities,the mur- 
der of Abraham Lincoln.*' 

The charge that Rome was responsible for tlie assas- 
sination of AV^raham Linc'oln was first made, so far as 
I am advised, by Father Chiniquy; and was founded 
not only on the facts which I have here given; but on 
facts that came to him as a result of his own personal 
research. His charge is distinctly and explicitly made 
in his book, entitled, "Fifty Years in the Church of 
Rome." He there shows that Mr. Lincoln had incur- 
red the deadly enmity of the Jesuits by foiling and 
disappointing them in an effort they had made to con- 
vict Father Chiniquy of a crime, of which they had 
falsely accused him; and ^ which, had they succeeded 
in con,victing him, would not only have ruined his 
reputation, but would have secured his incarceration 
in a prison. 

Mr. Lincoln defended Father Chiniquy, and being 
furnished, apparently by a special Providence, with 
evidence that revealed their wicked conspiracy to de- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM IJNCCH.N. 69 

stroy him, and convicted them of perjuiy, he was able 
triumphantly, to defeat their wicked scheme; and gave 
them such a scathing as made them tremble with rage, 
and slink away with vows of vengeance in their hearts. 
Father Chiniquy, in making his warm acknowledge- 
ments to ]\Ir. Lincoln, could not refrain from sheddinir 
tears. Upon Mr. Lincoln's expressing surprise at this, 
and sa3dng to him that he ought to be the happiest 
man in the world, Father Chiniquy replied, that it was 
for Mr. Lincoln, and not for himself, that his tears 
were falling. He then explained the cause of his emo- 
tion, saying, that, knowing the Jesuits as he did, and 
reading a purpose of vengeance in their murderous 
eyes, he knew that they would never rest until they 
had compassed his death. This occurred at Urbana, 
111., in 1856. In the Providence of God, the duty fell 
on Mr. Lincoln of putting down a most formidable 
rebellion, and of maintaining the authority of the gov- 
ernment by its military arm; and Father Chiniquy, 
realizing that a state of war would afford the Jesuits 
the opportunity that they sought, to at once wreak 
their vengeance on personal account, and give a stab at 
the life of the government, made three different visits 
to the President during his administration, to give him 
warning of his danger, and to put him on his guard. 
As Father Chiniquy has kindly given me liberty to use 



70 home's ITESF'ONSIHrLITV FOR THE 

liis l)()ok freely for tlie purposes of this Ijook, I have 
given above the result of one of these visits, and shall 
make still further use of his ])ook. in closing- vip this 
inquiry. 

In doing so, however, I feel that I ought to com- 
mend Father Chiniquy's book to all who desire to in- 
form themselves fully of the character, claims, and 
Avicked purposes of the Roman C'atliolic Hierarchy. 
Father Chiniquy had a long, varied and cruel expe- 
rience in the Roman Catholic Churcli; spending twenty- 
five years of his life in its priesthood. ]>y the grace of 
(fod he was led to see and abjure the errors of the 
church in which he had l)een reared, and so, becoming 
a christian, he has s})ent nearly another fifty years as 
I an al)le and honored minister of a Protestant church, 
and iu warning the nation of its danger from the 
Roman Catholic Hierarchy, and especially from the 
Jesuits. Would that every American citizen could read 
his book! It would prove to him an eye opener. 

We have now traced the history of this assassination 
as revealed by the testimony given before the Military 
Commission, and before a civil court, two years later; 
and we find ourselves coming in contact with the 
Roman Catholic Church, at every point, and always 
as a deei)ly interested party, thus showing its relation 
to the crime. Its sympath}' was always with the as- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 71 

.sassiiis, wherever we came in contact with it. Its an- 
imus toward the government was always seen to be 
that of the bitterest haired and scorn. Its manner 
that of a Hon robbed of its pre}^ Its every effort was 
to shiehl, and give aid to those on trial; and when it 
failed in this, to cast obloquy on the government, and 
to bring it into contemi)t. Thus the history of this 
great crime reveals to us Rome's responsibility for the 
assassination of Abraham Lincoln, not as an individ- 
ual man, however much of personal hatred on the part 
of the Jesuits might have led them to i)lan for his 
death, but as the head of the nation they desired to de- 
stroy. But we shall now proceed to give the most 
positive and unequivocal proof of the complicity of the 
Romish Hierarchy in, and its responsibility for, this 
crime. 

Father C'hiniquy was so well satisfied that the priests 
of Rome were at the bottom of this plot, that he spent 
a great deal of his time in investigating the matter, to 
see if he could not find convincing proof of the fact. 
The result of his investigations will be best given in 
his own words. 

"Murder will out" is a truth repeated by all nations 
from the beginning of the world. It is the knowledge 
of that truth which has sustained me in my long and 
difficult researches of the authors of the assassination 



72 ' K()Nfi:V liKSI^ONSiniLITV FOR THE 

of Lincoln, and which enables me to-day, to j)iesent to 
the world a fact, which seems almost miraculous, to 
show the complicity of the priests of Rome in the mur- 
der of the martyred President. 

"Some time ago, I providentially met the Rev. F. A. 
C'onwell, of Chicago. Having known tluit I was in 
search of facts about the assassination of Al)raham 
Lincoln, he told me he knew one of those facts, which 
nnght perhaps throw light on the subject of my re- 
searches. 

" The very day of the murder, he said, he was in 
the Roman C'atholic village of St. Joseph, Minnesota 
State, when, at about six o'clock, in the afternoon, he 
was told 1)}^ a Roman Catholic of the place, who was a 
l)urveyor of a great number of priests who lived in 
that town, where they have a monastery, the State 
Secretary, Seward, and the President, Lincoln, had just 
been killed. 

"This was told me," he said, ''in the presence of a 
most respectable gentleman, called Bennett, who was 
not less. puzzled than myself. As there were no railroad 
lines nearer than forty miles, nor telegraph ofhces 
nearer than eighty miles, from that place, we could 
not see how such news was spi'ead in that town. The 
next day, the 15th of April, 1 was at St. Cloud, a town 
al)out twelve miles distant, where there are neither 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. To 

railroad nor telegra})h. I said to several people that I 
had been told in tlie priestly village of St. Joseph, 
hy a Roman Catholiq, that Abraham Lincoln and the 
Secretary Seward had been assassinated. They an- 
swered me that they had heard nothing of it. But the 
next Sabbath, the 16th of April, when going to the 
church of St. Cloud to })reach, a friend gave me a copy 
of a telegram sent to him on Saturday, reporting that 
Abraham Lincoln and Secretary Seward had been as- 
sassinated, the very da}' l)efore, which was Friday, the 
14th, at 10 o'clock, i>. n\. 

"But how could the Roman Catholic purveyor of the 
priests of St. Joseph have told me the same thing, be- 
fore several witnesses, just four hours before its occur- 
rence? I si)oke of that strange thing to many, the 
same day and the very next day I wrote to the St, 
Paul Press, under the head of "A Strange Coincidence." 

"Some time later, the editor of the St. Paul Pioneer 
having denied what I had written on that subject, I 
addressed him the following note, which he had 
printed, and which I have kept. Here it is; you may 
keep it as an infallible proof of my veracity." 

"To the Editor of the St. Paul Pioneer: You assume 
the non-truth of a short paragraph addressed by me to 
the St. Paul Press, viz. : 



74 i?(>mk's hksi'onsihilitv for thk 



i.^v-.mM 



A STR.VNGE rO-INClDKNC'K 

''At ():80 p.m., Friday last, April 14th, I was told as 
an item of news, S miles west of this place, that Lineohi 
and Seward had heen assassinated. This was three 
liours after I had heard the news." 

St. Cloud, ITtli Ai)ril. iSCo. 

"The integrity of history requires that the ah(Tve co- 
incidence be established. And if any one calls it in 
question, tlien })roofs more ami)le than reared their 
sanguinary shadows to comfort a traitor can now be 
<:iven. 

Resi)ectfully, 

F. A. CoNWKLL. 

•'I asked that gentleman if he would be kind enough 
to give me the fact under oath, that I might make use 
of it in the report I intended to publish about the as- 
sassination of Lincoln. And lie kindly granted my 
request in the following form: 

State of Illinois, ) 

^ ss 
Cook County. j "'" 

"Rev. F. A. Conwell, being sworn, dei)oses and says, 

that he is sevent3-one years old; that he is a resident 

of North Evanston, in Cook county, State of Illinois; 

that he has l)een in the ministry for fifty-six years, 

and is now one of tlie chaplains of "Seamen's Bethel 

Home," in Chicago; that he was chaplain of the First 



ASSASSrXATION ()F Al^.UAHAM LINCOLN. iO 

■\[iniiesota Reo;iment, in the war of the rebellion. That 
on the 14th day of April, A. I).. 1805, he was in 8t. 
Joseph, Minnesota, and reaehed there as early as six 
o'clock in the evening in company with Mr. Bennett, 
who. then and now, is a resident of St. Cloud, Minne- 
sota. That on that date, there was no telegraph nearer 
than Minneapolis about 80 miles from St. Joseph; and 
there was no railroad communication nearer than 
Avoka, Minnesota, a])ont 40 miles distant. That when 
he reached St. Joseph on the 14th day of April, 1865, 
one Mr. Linneman, who then, kept the hotel of St. 
Joseph, told affiant that l*resident Lincoln and Secre- 
tary Seward were assassinated; that it was not later 
than half i)ast six o'clock, on Friday, A}»ril 14th, 1865, 
when Mr. Tjinneman told me this. Shortly thereafter, 
Mr. Bennett came into the hotel, and I told him that 
Mr. Linneman said the President and Secretary Seward 
were assassinated; and then the same Mr. Linneman 
reported the same con^•ersation to Mr. Bennett in my 
presence. That during that time, Mr. Linneman told 
me that he had charge of the friary, or college for 
young men, under the priests, who were studying for 
the priesthood at St. Joseph; that there was a number 
of this kind at St. Joseph at the time. Affiant says, 
that on Saturday morning, April 15th, 1865, he went 
to St. Cloud, a distance of about 10 miles, and reached 



76 home's responsibility for the 

there iibout 8 o'clock in the niorning; that tliere was 
no Tiiilroad or telegraph comnuinieation to St. Cloud. 
When he arrived there he told Mr. Haworth, the hotel 
keeper, that he had been told that President Tiincoln 
and Secretary Seward had been assassinated, and asked 
if it was true. He further told Henry Clay Wait, 
Charles (rilnian, who afterwards was lieut-Governor of 
Minnesota, and Rev. ^Ir. Tice, the same thinjj;, and 
asked them if they had any such news; and they re- 
plied that they had not heard anything of the kind. 

"Affiant says that on Sunday morning, April 16th, 
1865, he preached in St. Cloud, and on the way to the 
church, a copy of a telegram was handed to him, stat- 
ing that the President and Secretary were assassinated 
on Friday evening at about nine o'clock. This tele- 
gram had been brought to St. Cloud by Mr. Gorton, 
who had reached St. Cloud by stage; and this was the 
first intelligence that had reached St. Cloud of the 
event. Affiant says further, that, on Monday morning, 
April 17th, 1865, he furnished the "Press," a paper of 
St. Paul, a statement that, three hours before the event 
took place, he had been informed, at St. Joseph, Min- 
nesota, that the President had been assassinated, and 
this was published in the "Press." 

[signed] Francis Asbury Conwell. 

"Subscribed and sworn to by Francis A. Conwell, be- 



ASSASSINATION OF AHUAIIAM LINCOLN. // 

fore me, a Notary Public of Kankakee county, Illinois, 
at Chicago, Cook county, Illinois, the (jth day of Sep- 
tember, 1883. 

Stephen R. Moore, 

Notary Public. 
Father Chiniquy a^ds, "though this document was 
very important and precious to me, I felt that it would 
be much more valuable if it could be corroborated by 
the testimony of Mr. Bennett and Mr. Linneman,them- 
selves. and I immediately sent a magistrate to find out 
if they were still living, and if they remembered the 
facts of the sworn declaration of Rev. Mr. Conwell. By 
the good Providence of God, both of these gentlemen 
were found living, and both gave the following testi- 
monies: 

State op^ Minnesota, ") 

Sterns County, [ ss. 
CiTY of St. Cloud, ) 

Horace B. Bennett, being sworn, deposes and says, 
that he is aged sixty-four years; that he is a resident 
of St. Cloud, Minnesota, and has resided in this county 
since 1856; that he is acquainted with Rev. F. A. Con- 
well, who was chaplain of the First Minnesota Regi- 
ment in the war of the rebellion; that on the 14th day 
of April, 1865, he was in St. Joseph, Minnesota, in 
company with Mr. Frances A. Conwell; that they 
reached St. Joseph about sundown of said April 14th; 



78 home's i{i:sp()NsiBii/rv for the 

that there was no raih'oad or teU'gra})li comMiunication 
with St. Joseph at tliat time, nor nearer than Avoka, 
about 40 miles distant. Tliat affiant, on reaching the 
hotel kept by Mr. Liimeman went to the barn, while 
Rev. F. A. Conwell entered the hotel; and shortly af- 
terward, affiant had returned to the hotel. Mr. Conwell 
had told him that Mr. T^inneman had reported to him 
the assassination of President Lincohi; that Mr. I.inne- 
man was present and sul^stantiated the statement; 
'"That on Saturday morning, April 15th, affiant and 
Rev. Conwell came to St. Cloud and reported that tliey 
had been told at St. Joseph, about the assassination of 
President Lincoln; that no one at St. Cloud had heard 
of the event at this time; that the hrst news of the 
event which reached St. Cloud, was on Sunday morn- 
ing, April IGth, when the news was brought by Lean- 
der (xorton, who had just come uj) from Avoka, Min- 
nesota; that they spoke to several persons of St. Cloud 
concerning the matter, when they reached there, on 
Sunday morning, but affiant does not now remember 
who those different persons were, and further affiant 
says not. 

HoKACE P. Bennett. 
Sworn ])efore me, and sul)scribed in my presence, 
this bSth day of October, A. D., 1883. 

Andrew C. Robinson, Notary Public. 



ASSAJ^?^I-\ATI()N OV ABRAHAM LIX«<)LN. 71) 

In regard to ^Ir. Linnenian, P^ather Chiniquy says: 
'^Mr. Linneman having refused to swear on his written 
declaration which I have in my possession, I take only 
from it Avhat refers to the principal fact, viz: that 
three or four hours l)efore Lincoln was assassinated at 
Washington, the 14th of April, ISf);"), the fact was told 
as already accomplished in the ])riestly village of St. 
Joseph, ^Minnesota. 

"He (Linneman) remembers the time that Messrs. 
Conwell and Bennett came to his place (St. Joseph, 
Minnesota) on Friday evening, l)efore the President 
was killed, and he asked them if they had heard he 
was dead, and they replied they had not. He heard 
this rumor in his store from people who came in and 
out. But he cannot remember from whom. 

October ^Oth, LS83. J. H. Linneman. 

We have now before us positive evidence that these 
Jesuit Fathers, priests of Rome, engaged in preparing 
young men for the priesthood away out in the village 
of St. Joseph, in far ofi' Minnesota, were in correspon- 
dence with their brethren in Washington City, and had 
l)een informed that the plan to assassinate the Presi- 
dent had been matured, the agents for its accomplish- 
ment had been found, the time for its execution had 
been set, and so sure were they of its accomplishment, 
that thev could announce it as already done, three 



80 KOME's RKSrONSlBILITV FOR THE 

or four hours before it had been consumated. The an- 
ticipation of its ac'complisliment so elated tliein that 
they could not retrain from passing it around, in this 
Romish crowd, as a piece of glorious news. 

It is })lain from this testimony tliat (iood Friday 
had been set, as the time for its accomplishment; and 
that ways and means liad 1)een planned, and that there 
was to be no such a word as fail. 

At the time that this news had been transmitted to 
these Fathers, it was not known that President Lincoln 
would attend Ford's theatre; and so, it is plain that 
had not this opi)ortunity been afforded to Bootli and 
his co-conspirators, they would still have attempted it 
in soDie other way; that their purpose had been fixed; 
and so des])erate was their determination that they 
would not have been foiled in their attemj)t by any 
difficulties that they might have had to encounter. 

The word had been passed to this Jesuit college in 
►St. Joseph, Minnesota, and no doubt to all other Jesuit 
institutions in the United States, in Canada and in the 
Confederacy, that, on that Good Friday, Lincoln was 
to be slain. 

That this was to be done to overthrow our govern- 
ineht is to be seen in the. fact that Secretary Seward 
was also to be taken off" that day. 

This news could only have been communicated to 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 81 

these Jesuits by their Jesuit friends in Washington, 
who, under the protection and hospitality of our gov- 
ernment, were thus, in the hour of its sore trial, and 
extreme peril, planning and plotting for its destruc- 
tion; and ready, for this purpose, to resort to their fa- 
vorite policy of assassination. I feel, however, that I 
must give my readers Father Chiniquy's own construc- 
tion of this evidence. He says, "I present here to the 
world a fact of the greatest gravity, and that foct is so 
well authenticated that it cannot allow even the possi- 
])ility of a doul)t. 

"Three or four hours before Lincoln was murdered 
in Washington, the 14th of April, 1865, that murder 
was not onl}^ known by some one, but it was circulated 
and talked of in the streets, and in the houses of the 
priestly and Romish town of St. Joseph, Minnesota. 
The fact is undeniable; the testimonies are unchal- 
lengable, and there were no railroad or telegraph com- 
munication nearer than 40 or 80 miles from the near- 
est station to St. Joseph. Naturally every one asked: 
'How could such news spread? Where is the source 
of such a rumor?' 

Mr. Linneman, who is a Roman Catholic, tells us 
that, though he heard this from many in his store, and 
in the streets, he does not remember the name of a sin- 
gle one who told him that. And when we hear this 



82 ROME-y RKSI'ONSinil.ITV VOli THE 

from liim, we understand why he did not dare to swear 
upon it, and shrunk from the idea of })erjurinir him- 
self 

"For every one feels that his memory eannut he so 
poor as tliat, when he remembers so well tlie names of 
the two strangers, Messrs. Cunwell and Bennett, to whom 
he had announced the assassination of Lincoln, just 
seventeen years before. But if the memory of Mr. Lin- 
neman is so deficient on that subject, we can hel}) him 
and tell him with mathematical accuracy. 

"You got the news from your priests of St. Josei)hi 
The conspiracy which cost the life of the martyred 
President was prepared by the i)riests of Washington 
in the house of Mary Surratt, No. o41 H Street. 

•'The priests of 8t. Joseph' were often visiting Wash- 
ington and boarding, probably, at Mrs. Surratt's as the 
priests of Washington were often visiting their l)rother 
priests at St. Joseph. 

"Those priests of Washington were in daily commu- 
nication with their priests of St. Josei)h; they were their 
intimate friends. 

"There were no secrets amongst them, as there are 
no secrets among priests. They are the members of 
the same body, the branches of the same tree. The de- 
tails of the murder, as the day selected for its commis- 
sion were as well known among the priests of St. 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. So 

Joseph, as they were among those of Washington. The 
deatli of Lincohi was such a glorious event for those 
priests! The infamous apostate, Lincohi, who, hap- 
tized in the Holy Church, had rebelled against her, 
broken his oath o\' allegiance to the Poi3e, taken the 
very day of his baptism, and lived the life of an apos- 
tate! That infamous Lincoln, who had dared to fight 
against the C'onfederacy of the South after the Vietwr 
of Christ had solemiilv_dejilared that their cause was 
just, legitimate and holy! That bloody tyrant, that 
godless and infamous man was to receive, at last, the 
just chastisement of his crimes, the 14th of April. 
What glorious news! How could the priests conceal 
such a joyful event from their bosom friend, Mr. Lin- 
neman? 

"He was their confidential man; he was their pur- 
veyor; he was their right hand man among the faithful 
of St. Joseph. 

"They thought thi».t they would be guilty of a great 
want of confidence in their bosom friend if they did 
not tell him all about the glorious event that great day. 
But, of course, they requested him not to mention their 
names, if he would spread the joyful news among the 
devoted Roman Catholics, who, almost exclusively^, 
formed the people of St. Joseph. Mr. Linneman has 
honorably and faithfulh^ kept his promise never to re- 



/ 



84 |{<>MK's HKSPONHTBIIJTV F^'oR tiik 

veal|their names, and to-day, we have, in our hand 
the authentic testimonies, signed hy him. tliat, thougli 
somebody on the 14th of April, told him that Presi- 
dent Lincoln was assassinated, he does not know who 
told him that! 

"But there is not a man of sound judgment who 
will have any doubt about the fact. 

"The 14th of April, 1S(>5, the priests knew and cir- 
culated the death of Lincoln four hours before its oc- 
currence in their Roman Catholic town of St. Joseph, 
Minnesota. But they could not circulate it without 
knowing it, and they could not know it without be- 
longing to the band of conspirators who assassinated 
Abraham Lincoln." 

Our case is now before the jury of our countrymen. 
What say you, gentlemen? Is the charge that the 
Roman Hierarchy was implicated in the assassination 
of our inartyred President sustained by the evidence 
which we have presented; or, has it been unjustly 
made? 

We have no doubt of the verdict of the American 
people when all of this evidence, both circumstantial 
and positive, shall have been duly considered and 
weighed. 

The case is too plain to admit of a reasonable doubt; 
and the charge being sustained, we have before us mat- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 85 

ter fur the gravest consideration, and calling for the 
wisest, firmest and most heroic treatment. That same 
foe to our liherties, secured to us in our Constitution 
and Governmental institutions, that so insidiously and 
malignantly sought to take advantage of our civil war, 
which it had had a great hand in Ibmenting, to over- 
throw and destroy our government, is still in our 
midst; and under the guise of friendship for, and love 
to our governmental institutions, is gaining position 
after position, to be used, finally, for their destruction. 
There is an impending crisis, an irrepressible conflict, 
before us. The history of the assassination of our mar- 
tyred President, which we have now before us, reveals 
the desperate character of the foe that we are called to 
face. It is unwise to shut our e3^es to the situation 
that confronts us. It may not be a pleasant task to 
contemplate the greatest of possible dangers; but it 
will be wiser to do so than to shut your e\"es, and cry 
peace! peace! when there is no peace. Rome will 
never let go her hold, nor relax her efforts to establish 
her despotism,, until she shall have been completely 
despoiled of her power. 

Then let the trumpet be sounded throughout the 
length and breadth of the land, to marshal the hosts of 
freedom for the conflict. Let us agitate, agitate and 
agitate; and then let us organize for the conflict. Let 



86 liOMIc's HEHPONSIBIMTV FOH T/IE: 

this be a war of discussion and agitation for a ))enceful 
settlement, of the great issues involved, that it may 
not have to be settled on tlie field of carnage and l)lood. 

If it fails of the former, and much to be desired set- 
tlement, then there is but the other dread alternative 
left. It can never be a drawn battle; it will be a fight 
to the finish. Rome seems now to have the advantage 
in the contest; l)ut it is only because the hosts of free- 
dom are not fully awake to the issues involveib A 
wily Jesuit Arch-bishop has had the ear of the Presi- 
dent recently elected; and has endeavored to control 
his cabinet and other appointments in the interest of 
his church; and the patriotic peoi)le, who voted for 
McKinley, have expressed great disappointment at the 
freedom of access which the wily Jesuit has to the exe- 
cutive head of our nation. They have felt mortified and 
grieved to see him take uj) his quarters in Washington, 
and for months giving his attention to the political, 
rather than to spiritual interests of his church. They 
have felt that it was ominous of no good to see this 
Arch-bishop and Cardinal Gil^bon cultivating such 
friendly relations with the President, evidently for the 
purpose of securing certain very desirable appoint- 
ments. And they have felt disposed to censure the 
President for allowing it thus to be. 

But they have no reason to find fault with the Pres- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM IJNCOLN. S7 

ideut. The Arch-bishop got the party down at St. 
Ijouis, when he caused the committee on platform to 
reject the resolutions offered to it by the representa- 
tives of the Ameiican Protective Association; the party 
iiaving made this surrender to him, he felt himself to 
])e master of the situation, and expected, of course, to 
have the President in his power, just as it has turned 
out that he has. 

Neither would the case have been different had 
Bryan been elected. The party that nominated him 
would not have entertained these resolutions had they 
been offered in the Chicago convention; and the can- 
didate could not have taken higher ground than his 
party. 

It would only have been another Arch-bishop that 
would have taken him in charge, and the result would 
have been the same. We have, however, grounds for 
encouragement in the fact, now well known, that 
States, which the wily Jesuit had thought he had w^ell 
ftxed, have been smashed by the volume of protests 
that came up to the President from all parts of the 
country. The patriotic orders were weak in the con- 
vention, but strong in protests. 

It becomes us now to consider the cause of their 
weakness in the convention. Their weakness did not 
lie in lack of numbers, but in the want of an organi- 



88 Rome's kksponsibilty von tiik 

zation. The vote of tlie various patriotie orders in tlic 
United States outnumbers the Roman Catholic vote hy 
at least three to one; and yet it was the Roman Catholie 
vote that eould command the consideration of the i)o- 
litical leaders of the land. It is easy to see why this 
was the case. The thorough organization of the forces 
of the Hierarchy is well understood. It is known that 
tins vote can be wielded, virtually, as a unit Ity the 
l)riesthood, and that it can be secured by whichever 
party makes the highest bid for it. It is thought to 
be a balance of power vote in a presidential electior., 
and the ])riests desire to have it so considered, in (U-der 
to secure the highest price for it; not in cash, but in 
}>lace and power. This is the secret of Rome's power 
with the politicians. 

And now the question of prime importance is, how 
is this power to be broken? 
/^ It ran only be done by a compact and thorough or- 
ganization of the entire patriotic vote of the ciunitry. 
This vote is sui^ciently large to control the entire situ- 
ation; but is powerless in its present disorganized con- 
dition. It is vain to think of gaining the victory over 
Rome through either of the two dominant parties. They 
luive gotten so demoralized, through their long subser- 
viency to Rome, and know so well the power of its or- 
ganization, and have so little dread of the patriotic or- 



ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 89 

s^anizations in their present scattered and disjointed 
condition, tliat nothing short of a crushing defeat will 
ever cause them to follow the dictates of patriotism. It 
will take a new party. * The flame of patriotism must 
be aroused to the height of a sublime endeavor. Men 
must be taught to follow the flag, rather than party. 
We must have a party that will boldly take its stand 
on a platform of American fundamental principles. It 
must declare for the right of the State to educate its 
children, and its purpose to maintain our system of 
Free Schools. It must declare for the immediate in- 
corporation of the XVIth Amendment into our Na- 
tional and State Constitutions. This will settle, for 
good, the question of the appropriation of pul)lic funds 
to any sectarian purposes whatever, and secure the 
complete separation of Church and State. 

It must also declare for such amendments to our 
emigration laws as will exclude all undesirable classes 
from coming to our shores; such as criminals, paupers, 
illiterates, vicious, and all who are in any way disqual- 
ified for making good and desirable American citizens. 
Then, to those admitted, the limit of their probation 
must be extended to such a length of time as is neces- 
sary to enable them to become acquainted with the 
noture and to catch the spirit of our institutions. The 
rightto vote must bebased upon a qualifi- 



t)0 uomk's Ki:sr().\s!niLiTV for the 

cation of intollijxence. The riLrhtful jnriydiction 
of the civil power must be exercised over 
all private institutions in whicli peojde are lield 
under surveillance and control lor the preservation of 
the rights and liherties of their inmates. Xo property 
held 1)y any religious society, other than actual houses 
of worshij), should l)e exempt from taxation. Now. what- 
ever party can rise to the higliest of these reciuirements 
for the protection of our institutions, and will incor- 
porate these measures in its ])latform, should receive 
the undivided supi)ort of the American Protective As- 
sociation. and of all of the other ])'itriotic organizations, 
and individual citizens: provided, that in connection 
with these, it shall emhraA?e all other reforms in our 
policy that are essential to the prosperity of our coun- 
try. A party that is sound in its Americanism, and 
])atriotic in its purposes, may he safely trusted to tind, 
ultimately, the right side of all other (piestions. 

The Peo])le's ])arty ought, in addition to its other re- 
form measures, to he Ml)leto arise to the height of these 
requirements: hut it will perhaps he found to I'C too 
much under the influence of the ]K)liticians. who seem 
to tliink that to set themselves against the Komish 
Hierarchy would l)e fiital to the success of any party. 
It will, in all i)robability, he found necessary to organ- 
ize the patriotic forces into a new i>arty. that will have 



- ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINiOI.N. 91 

the conriiire to accept, and to meet tlie issues i)resented 
fairly and Siiuarely: and to take the name that logically 
})resenis itself: "The Protestant American Party.'" 

Our civil institutions are the lo.Lncal outcome of the 
protest of Luther and his co-adjutors against the Papal 
despotism. 

They are but the garnered fruit i)t the tree of the 
Reformation. The foe Ave have to light is the same 
that they had to contend against. The contention is 
in a ]»art. at least, over the same issues; for it is the 
rivil claims of the Papacy, and not its religious dog- 
mas, that we are, in the present field of operations, 
'•ailed upon to resist. These latter we accord to it the 
right to hold, and to teach; believing with Jefferson 
that "error is harmless whilst truth is lelt to combat 
it;'' so, that, however erroneous, and soul-destroying 
we may think its dogmas to be. they must still be held 
to 1 "C under the domain of reason.and to be overthrown 
by truth; and so, not under civil control. But the 
claim of the Papacy to supreme civil jurisdiction must' 
be met, according to its nature, in the field of politics. 
To admit this claim is to surrender all human rights, 
and human liberty, to the keeping of a fallible fellow- 
mortal; and to enthrone him as a despot. This is what 
is done in theory by every loyal son of the church of 
Rome; and to bring all mankind into the same bond- 



./ 



92 romk's REspoxsiBii/rv for the 

age M-ith himself i« ever to be his supreme endeavor 

E^•ery Roman Catholic prie.st, of wliatever grade be- 
Leves the Pope to be Christ's viear on earth, and to 
stand to the human race, in all matters, spiritual and 
temporal, in the place of God. This places hin> in the 
position of supreme authority; so that all civil power 
■luist be dispensed under his direction and .ontrol 
Kvery i>r.est not only believes this, but is put under 
the obligation of his oath of ordination to use all the 
ineans that may at any time be in his power to brin<. 
the whole world into the acceptance of this dogma, and 
to submission to tlie Pope's authority-. 

This is what the whole body of the Romi.sh priest- 
hood in the United States are engaged in to-dav; and 
It means the subjugation of our Protestant civil insti- 
tutions, and the surrender of our liberties. Here we 
have Romanism pitted against Protestantism, and its 
success simply means the destruction of our govern- 
ment, and the enthronement over us of the Prince of 
all Despots. 

Let us then have the courage to take a name that 
immediately .suggestn the issues involved in the con- 
test, and the nature of the contention, and thus raise a 
hanner that will draw to its support every lover of lib- 
erty, and foe of despotism. Nothing would more 
alarm the foe we have to fight than this party name, 



ASSA5<SINATI0N OF AP.UAHAM LINCOLN. 9o 

that would so clearly indicate the real matter at issue; 
and nothing would more cheer and encourage the hosts 
of freedom. 

I am aware that this proposition will be met with 
the objection that it would be unwise and dangerous 
to introduce the element of religious difierences into 
(jLir political contests, and, especially, to make this the 
basis of party organizations. 

But it is sufficient to meet this objection -with the 
simple truth, that it is the civil claims of the Romish 
Hierarchy that we resist; and these come clearly under 
the domain of politics. In this resistance we do not 
interfere with, or even call in question, the Papal sys- 
tem of religion. Every American citizen, who has had 
his mind expanded ^yiih. the Protestant ideas of civil 
and religious liberty, will ever stand ready to accord 
to his Roman Catholic fellow citizens the same right 
to protection in their rights of conscience, in matters of 
religion, that he claims for himself; but he w411 at the 
same time see to it, that under the guise of religion, he 
shall not be allowed to undermine the very foundation 
of these privileges. 

Our country must be maintained as it is now, the 
land of liberty, under the protection of Protestant in- 
stitutions. Let us then declare to the world this pur- 
pose, by bringing it under the control of a "Protestant 
American Party." 



'^"^ H()Mi:"s 1:KSI'().\SJBIL1TV Fn/{ TlIK 

The Hieran-hy lias never had to encuntcr imythmu: 
in tliis country that lias -iven it so much concc-rn ^i^ 
does the i)resent j)at]-iotie awakenin,-. It aifects, how- 
ever, to re-ard it with contempt, hut at the same time 
redouhles its efforts to tighten its -rasp on tlie politi- 
cians. It is to them that it looks for help, and appeals- 
tor aid. It tries to hide the real issues, hy its usual 
resort to niisrei)reseiitation and falsehood. Jt repre- 
sents it as a revival of know-nothin-ism. In this it is 
not so far wrong. The A. V. A. is. however, huilt on 
a hroader foundation, as a result of a wider knowledge, 
and more extended experience of the deadly hostility 
of Rome to our civil institutions: and so upon a better 
comprehension of the safeguards that are necessary for 
their protection. 

It represents this, and all the other patri(Hic organi- 
zations, as founded on bigotry, and for the purpose of 
religious persecution; and so, as being un-American 
/md unpatriotic. And all this is to throw chaff into 
the eyes, that they may be closed to the threatened 
<langer. 

]^ut in this way many well meaning peot)le and true 
friends of our institutions, and lovers of our country^s 
flag, are being deceived, and lulled to sleep. Now, why 
does rome Resort to this line of defense? It is because 
all of the facts are against her, and so, as they cannot 



Ai^o^Ar^SINATION OF AP-TIAHAM LTN( OLN 



95 




Le denied or controvertea, her policy is to hide theiu 
outofeioht. l>y clmnging the line of vision. Rome 
know., and every American citizen ought to know.that 
these anti-C'athoHc agitators are unearthing her pur- 
poses, and uncovering her pUvns to get hohl of all the 
<lenartmentsofourgovernntcnt. and then give to the 
I>,ipe all that he claims as Christ's vicar; supreme con- 
trol over our civil institutions; that he may wield the 
.-ivil power for the uphuilding of the so-called church. 
We have onlv to turn to the pages of history to learn 
how he would use this power. We want no more of 
hi. interferenee with our God-given rights. We want 
no more union of church and state; and the danger 
lies more than anything else, in the seeming incredibil- 
itv that there should l)e any persons found at this late 
dav. and in this land of ours,wdio would l^ivor a return 
totherack.thetlunnb-screws, and other instruments 
of inquisition torture, for the i)romotion of the glory of 
God. and the salvation of souls. 

Let tlie incredulous look at Rome's boasted declara- 
tion; Semper eadem. Let them 'also scan the declara- 
tions made by Romish priests of every grade, in recent 
years, in the Roman Catholic Journals and Periodicals, 
and thev will learn that all that Rome wants is the 
power to enable her to revive these mild methods of 
propagating her version of the gospel of (^irist. Why 



doesn't she uieet tlie c-harges that are made a-ain.t lier 
openly and fairly? When it is charged that she is stor- 
ing away arms in the basements of her ehurehes, whv 
does she not protler the keys, and invite inspeetion? 
When it is eharged that she is restraining helpless fe- 
males of tlieir liberty, for the basest purposes, and in- 
Hieting upon them untold eruelties to bring them un- 
der subjeetion to a lecherous, drunken priesthood, win- 
does she not open her doors, and appeal to the eivil 
magistrates to make the most rigid inspeetion and ex- 
amination, that they may thus show the charges to be 
lalse? This she has never yet done, and never will do; 
neither will she permit it to be done as long as she ean 
tind means for successful resistance. 

In the name of liberty, in the cause of humanity, let 
us compel her to submit to such inspections. In the 
name of Protestant Americanisn], let us set up our 
banners for complete subjugation of this corrupt, un- 
scrupulous, and dangerous foe to civil liberty, and 
murderer of human rights. 

r.et it be known to the world that American freemen 
will ever stand on the watch tower, and will compel 
the submission of all within the domain of our govern- 
ment to submit themselves to its rightful authority. 
That there can be in this country in civil affairs no 
power greater than the State. 



BOOKS. 

Why Priests Should Wed. Cloth Si 00 

Maria Monk's Awful Disclosures. Paper 2 25 

Why Am I An A. P. A. Paper 25 

Convent Horror. The story of Barbara Ubryck 25 

Errors of the Catholic Church. Cloth 700 p. p 00 

Romanism and the Reformation. Cloth 75 

An Open Letter to the ''Holy Father." Paper 15 

Secret Theology of the Catholic Church 25 

Edith O'Gorman's Convent Life Unveiled 1 00 

The Priest, the Woman, and the Confessional 1 00 

Romanism and the Republic 100 

Romanism as it is, by Barnum 3 50 

America or Rome; Christ or the Pope 1 50 

The Assassination of Lincoln. Cloth 2 50 

Auricular Confession and Popish Nunneries 25 

Vatican Decrees, by Gladstone 25 

History of the Inquisition 25 

William of Orange 25 

Woman in the Confessional 25 

The Jesuit in American Politics 25 

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